Red to near-infrared electrophosphorescence from an iridium complex coordinated with 2-phenylpyridine and 8-hydroxyquinoline

An iridium complex coordinated with 2-phenylpyridine (ppy) and 8-hydroxyquinoline (q), ppy2Irq, was synthesized and its thermal stability, absorption, photoluminescence, crystal structure and electrophosphorescence were characterized. The melting point of this material reaches as high as 374 °C and does not suffer decomposition upon heating at high vacuum therefore can be well sublimated. When ppy2Irq was used as a guest emitting material in the electrophosphorescent device, the emission is 100% saturated red light starting at ∼600 nm, extending into the near-infrared region. The bathochromic shift, compared to the fluorescence and phosphorescence from Alq3, Ptq2 and Ir(ppy)3, was analyzed to originate from the triplet excited state of 8-hydroxyquinoline ligand and the crystal structure analysis excludes the origin of π–π intermolecular interactions.