Theoretical studies on the electronic structures and spectral properties of three iridium(III) complexes with different N^N ligands

We report a quantum chemical study of the electronic structures and spectral properties of three iridium(III) biscarbene complexes with different heteroleptic N^N ligands. The theoretical calculation reveals that the lowest-lying singlet absorptions at 434 nm for 1 and 487 nm for 3 are attributed to the mixed transition characters of metal-to-ligand charge transfer (MLCT) and ligand-to-ligand charge transfer (LLCT). However, for 2, the lowest-lying singlet absorption at 509 nm is attributed to the MLCT. For 1-3, the phosphorescence at 739, 913, and 737 nm are mainly attributed to ³MLCT and ³LLCT characters. For 1 and 3, the emission energies are nearly the same, which is larger than that of 2. Ionization potentials (IP) and electron affinities (EA) calculations show that the assumed complex 3 has large EA value and enhanced electron injection ability as compared to complexes 1 and 2. Moreover, the reasons for different transition characters and phosphorescence quantum yield for the three complexes have been discussed in this paper. This theoretical contribution allows the factors determining the efficiency of radiative and nonradiative decay pathways in the three complexes.