Experimental and theoretical studies of pH-responsive iridium(III) complexes of azole and N-heterocyclic carbene ligands.

A series of nine luminescent iridium(III) complexes with pH-responsive imidazole and benzimidazole ligands have been prepared and characterized. The first series of complexes were of the form [Ir(ppy) ₂ (N^N)] ⁺ or [Ir(ppy) ₂ (C^N)] ⁺ (where ppy is 2-phenylpyridine and N^N is 2-(2-pyridyl)imidazole or 2-(2-pyridyl)benzimidazole and C^N represents a pyridyl-triazolylidene-based N-heterocyclic carbene ligand). For these complexes, the benzimidazole group was either unsubstituted or substituted with electron-withdrawing (Cl) or electron-donating (Me) groups. The second series of complexes were of the form [Ir(phbim) ₂ (N^N)] ⁺ or [Ir(phbim) ₂ (C^N)] ⁺ (where phbim is 2-phenylbenzimidazole and N^N is either 2,2'-bipyridine or 1,10-phenanthroline and C^N is either a pyridyl-imidazolylidene or pyridyl-triazolylidene N-heterocyclic carbene ligand). UV-visible and photoluminescence pH titration studies showed that changing the protonation state of these complexes results in significant changes in the photoluminescence emission properties. The p K _a values of prepared complexes were estimated from the spectroscopic pH titration data and these values show that the nature of the pH-sensitive ligands (either main or ancillary ligands) resulted in a significant capacity to modulate the p K _a values for these compounds with values ranging from 5.19-11.22. Theoretical investigations into the nature of the electronic transitions for the different protonation states of compounds were performed and the results were consistent with the experimental results.