Rotaxane PtII-complexes: mechanical bonding for chemically robust luminophores and stimuli responsive behaviour

Zhihui Zhang; Graham J. Tizzard; J. A. Gareth Williams; Stephen M. Goldup

doi:10.1039/C9SC05507J

Rotaxane Pt^II-complexes: mechanical bonding for chemically robust luminophores and stimuli responsive behaviour†

Zhihui Zhang,^a Graham J. Tizzard,^a J. A. Gareth Williams

*^b and Stephen M. Goldup

*^a

Author affiliations

* Corresponding authors

^a Chemistry, University of Southampton, Southampton, UK
E-mail: s.goldup@soton.ac.uk

^b Department of Chemistry, Durham University, Durham, UK
E-mail: j.a.g.williams@durham.ac.uk

Abstract

We report an approach to rotaxanes in which the metal ion of a cyclometallated Pt^II luminophore is embedded in the space created by the mechanical bond. Our results show that the interlocked ligand environment stabilises a normally labile Pt^II–triazole bond against displacement by competing ligands and that the crowded environment of the mechanical bond retards oxidation of the Pt^II centre, without perturbing the photophysical properties of the complex. When an additional pyridyl binding site is included in the axle, the luminescence of the Pt^II centre is quenched, an effect that can be selectively reversed by the binding of Ag^I. Our results suggest that readily available interlocked metal-based phosphors can be designed to be stimuli responsive and have advantages as stabilised triplet harvesting dopants for device applications.

This article is part of the themed collection: Celebrating the Chemical Sciences in India - Leaders in the Field Symposium 2021

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Article information

DOI: https://doi.org/10.1039/C9SC05507J
Article type: Edge Article
Submitted: 01 Nov 2019
Accepted: 02 Jan 2020
First published: 02 Jan 2020
This article is Open Access

All publication charges for this article have been paid for by the Royal Society of Chemistry

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Chem. Sci., 2020,11, 1839-1847

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Rotaxane Pt^II-complexes: mechanical bonding for chemically robust luminophores and stimuli responsive behaviour

Z. Zhang, G. J. Tizzard, J. A. G. Williams and S. M. Goldup, Chem. Sci., 2020, 11, 1839 DOI: 10.1039/C9SC05507J

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