The study of fullerenes has inspired chemists to understand and probe the structural and electronic properties of these compounds as well as the applications of these molecules. Corannulene, nicknamed “buckybowl”, has been described as the smallest fullerene fragment that retains curvature. As a result of its unique structure, corannulene has been proposed for use in many promising applications ranging from charge transport to end caps for nanotubes. The chemical synthesis, molecular structure & dynamics, and photophysical characterization of Pt(II) and Ir(III) complexes containing cyclometalated pyridylcorannulene have been examined. These complexes have very low quantum yields in solution at room temperature that is increased significantly when the rigidity of the solvent is increased, suppressing corannulene inversion and reducing non‑radiative decay. The energy barrier and the rate of corannulene inversion have been obtained for (corpy)Ir(ppz)2, using VT NMR and can be attributed to the fluxional behavior of rapidly converting isomers in solution. A reference compound, (phenpy)Ir(ppz)2, was also synthesized, to mimic the steric bulk of (corpy)Ir(ppz)2 and show that the VT NMR behavior observed is unique to that of (corpy)Ir(ppz)2.

Synthesis and characterization of phosphorescent complexes containing corannulene

249th National Meeting (2015)

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