A Versatile new family of highly luminescent platinum complexes: application from OLEDs to chemical sensors

这项研究将探索一个新的家庭的化合物含有铂结合NACAN配位体的应用。NAC^N是指通过两个氮和一个中心金属-碳键与金属配位的有机分子。这些化合物是发光的-当施加电能或光能时它们会发光-并且我们化合物中的Pt-C键的短长度使发射异常明亮。这项研究的目的是将这种明亮的发射很好地用于两个技术上重要的应用：（A）。有机发光器件（OLED）。OLED被广泛认为是下一代显示屏技术，它利用小的有机分子或共轭聚合物，并提供优于现有LED技术的优势;例如，它们可以形成为薄的柔性塑料，使得电视屏幕甚至可以通过喷墨印刷制成。然而，只有少数在施加电荷时形成的激发态可以发光，即自旋配对单重态。需要发光重金属配合物来诱导通常不发射的三重态（电子自旋平行）的发射。为此，我们将探索新的NAC^N -配位铂配合物。它们可能非常适合于这种应用，因为它们的发射效率高，电荷中性，易于制备，并且易于衍生化，从而允许获得具有不同发射颜色的密切相关的络合物家族。我们将研究第四配体对络合物的稳定性和性质的影响，以及对提供NACAN配位的其他配体的研究。还将研究解决高电流下效率降低问题的新策略，以获得更明亮的显示器。（B）。一种新型的锌离子比率传感器：我们制备了一种Pt（NAC^N）配合物，它的背面含有一个锌离子的结合位点。要考虑的结合位点将是二吡啶甲基苯胺基，已知其在生理相关条件下以优于其他金属离子的良好选择性结合Zn（II）。我们已经发现，母体复合物可以非常迅速地扩散穿过细胞膜，并且没有显示出短期的细胞毒性，使得Pt（NAC^N）单元作为细胞传感器的发光组分具有吸引力。新的化合物将提供明显的优势，目前可用的传感器锌，因为它们将允许时间分辨的测量进行，提供更高的灵敏度，通过从背景荧光的歧视。

The research will explore applications of a new family of compounds containing platinum bound to NACANcoordinating ligands. By NAC^N, we mean an organic molecule that coordinates to the metal through two nitrogens and a central metal-carbon bond. The compounds are luminescent - they emit light when electrical or light energy is applied - and the short length of the Pt-C bond in our compounds makes the emission exceptionally bright. The objective of the research will be to put this bright emission to good use in two technologically important applications:(A). Organic light-emitting devices (OLEDs).Widely expected to be the next generation of display screen technology, OLEDs make use of small organic molecules or conjugated polymers, and offer advantages over existing LED technology; e.g. they can be formed as thin flexible plastics, so that TV screens could even be made by ink-jet printing. However, only a minority of the excited states that are formed when electrical charge is applied can emit light, namely the spin-paired singlet states. Luminescent heavy metal complexes are required to induce emission from the normally non-emissive triplet states (with electron spins parallel). We shall explore new NAC^N -coordinated platinum complexes for this purpose. They are likely to be very suitable for this application, because of their high efficiency of emission, charge-neutrality, ease of preparation, and amenability to derivatisation allowing a family of closely-related complexes with different colours of emission to be obtained. We will examine the effect of the fourth ligand on the stability and properties of the complexes, as well as working on other ligands offering NACAN coordination. A new strategy for tackling the problem of decreasing efficiency at high electrical currents will also be investigated, to allow brighter displays to be obtained.(B). A new ratiometric sensor for zinc ions.We will prepare a Pt(NAC^N) complex which incorporates a binding site for zinc ions on its back. The binding site to be considered will be a dipicolylanilino group, which is known to bind to Zn(II) with good selectivity over other metal ions under physiologically relevant conditions. We have discovered that the parent complexes can diffuse across cell membranes very rapidly and show no short-term cytotoxicity, making the Pt(NAC^N) unit attractive as the light-emitting component of a cellullar sensor. The new compounds will offer distinct advantages over currently available sensors for zinc, since they will allow time-resolved measurements to be made, offering greater sensitivity through discrimination from background fluorescence.