title: Fine-tuning the luminescence and HOMO-LUMO energy levels in tetranuclear gold(I) fluorinated amidinate complexes.
abstract: Tetranuclear gold(I) fluorinated amidinate complexes have been synthesized and their photophysical properties and structures described. DFT calculations were carried out to illustrate how a minor change in the ligand resulted in a loss of emission in the perfluorophenyl amidinate complex compared with nonfluorinated phenyl amidinate complexes reported previously. The fluorinated complexes reported here [Au(ArN)(2)C(H)](4) (1, Ar = 4-FC(6)H(4); 2, 3,5-F(2)C(6)H(3); 3, 2,4,6-F(3)C(6)H(2); 4, 2,3,5,6-F(4)C(6)H) emit in the blue-green region at 470, 1, 478, 2, 508, 3, and 450 nm, 4, by excitation at ca. 375 nm at room temperature with nanosecond lifetimes. The emissions observed at 77 K in the solid state show structured emission for complexes 1 and 2, with a vibrational spacing of ca. 1200 and 1500 cm(-1), corresponding to the vibrational modes of the amidinate ligand. The pentafluorophenyl derivative 5, Ar = C(6)F(5,) shows no photoluminescence in the solid state nor in the solution. This result is different from results in which the pentafluorophenyl group is attached to a phenylpyridine ligand in an Ir(III) complex and other organics. This quenching appears to be related to a nonradiative de-excitation process caused by the ππ*-πσ* crossover in the excited state of the pentafluorophenyl amidinate ligand. With increasing numbers of fluorine atoms, there is a progressive decrease in the contribution of the amidinate ligands to the corresponding HOMO orbital. There also is a slight decrease in the ligand contribution to the LUMO with increased numbers of fluorine atoms and an exchange of the character of the orbitals of the gold centers.
authors.affiliation: Department of Chemistry, Texas A&M University, College Station, Texas 77843, United States.
authors.forename: Hanan E
authors.initials: HE
authors.lastname: Abdou
authors.forename: Ahmed A
authors.initials: AA
authors.lastname: Mohamed
authors.forename: José M
authors.initials: JM
authors.lastname: López-de-Luzuriaga
authors.forename: Miguel
authors.initials: M
authors.lastname: Monge
authors.forename: John P
authors.initials: JP
authors.lastname: Fackler