Synthesis, structures and properties of new cyclometalated iridium(III) complexes of 3-methoxy-6-methyl-2-(naphthalen-2-yl)pyridine

The reaction between 3-methoxy-6-methyl-2-(naphthalen-2-yl)pyridine 1 and IrCl3 was performed in an attempt to synthesize a cyclometalated Ir(III) Cl-bridged dimer 2. An unexpected Ir(III) complex 3 was isolated, which was a five-coordinate bis-cyclometalated Ir(III) complex. The complexes 2 and 3 were converted to the same mononuclear complex 4 upon reacting with acetylacetonate (acac), respectively. All of the new compounds have been fully characterized by elemental analysis, IR, 1H, 13C{1H} NMR and ESI-MS. Additionally, the crystal structures and properties of these Ir(III) complexes are investigated. The most striking common features of the structures of 2 and 3 is intramolecular C–H···Cl hydrogen bonds. The complex 4 shows yellow phosphorescence with structureless emission peaks at about 556 nm.