Synthesis and study on a series of phosphorescent Cu(I) complexes having sterically blocking ligands

•Six phosphorescent Cu(I) complexes were synthesized.•Alkyl groups were introduced into 2,9-positions of 1,10-phenanthroline.•Crystal structures, photophysical properties, and electronic nature were studied.•The correlation between emission performance and alkyl group was investigated.

In this paper, we report six phosphorescent Cu(I) complexes with 1,10-phenanthroline-derived ligands and phosphorous ligands, including their synthesis, crystal structures, photophysical properties, and electronic nature. The Cu(I) center has a distorted tetrahedral geometry within the Cu(I) complexes. Theoretical calculation reveals that all emissions originate from triplet metal-to-ligand-charge-transfer excited state. It is found that the introduction of alkyl moieties into 2,9-positions of 1,10-phenanthroline is highly effective on restricting the geometric relaxation that occurs in excited states, which greatly enhances the photoluminescence (PL) performances, including PL quantum yield improvement, PL decay lifetime increase, and emission blue shift.

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