Cyclic (Amino)(aryl)carbenes Enter the Field of Chromophore Ligands: Expanded π System Leads to Unusually Deep Red Emitting CuI Compounds

A series of copper­(I) complexes bearing a cyclic (amino)­(aryl)­carbene (CAArC) ligand with various complex geometries have been investigated in great detail with regard to their structural, electronic, and photophysical properties. Comparison of [CuX­(CAArC)] (X = Br (1), Cbz (2), acac (3), Ph2acac (4), Cp (5), and Cp* (6)) with known CuI complexes bearing cyclic (amino)­(alkyl), monoamido, or diamido carbenes (CAAC, MAC, or DAC, respectively) as chromophore ligands reveals that the expanded π-system of the CAArC leads to relatively low energy absorption maxima between 350 and 550 nm in THF with high absorption coefficients of 5–15 × 103 M–1 cm–1 for 1–6. Furthermore, 1–5 show intense deep red to near-IR emission involving their triplet excited states in the solid state and in PMMA films with λemmax = 621–784 nm. Linear [Cu­(Cbz)­(DippCAArC)] (2) has been found to be an exceptional deep red (λmax = 621 nm, ϕ = 0.32, τav = 366 ns) thermally activated delayed fluorescence (TADF) emitter with a radiative rate constant kr of ca. 9 × 105 s–1, exceeding those of commercially employed IrIII- or PtII-based emitters. Time-resolved transient absorption and fluorescence upconversion experiments complemented by quantum chemical calculations employing Kohn–Sham density functional theory and multireference configuration interaction methods as well as temperature-dependent steady-state and time-resolved luminescence studies provide a detailed picture of the excited-state dynamics of 2. To demonstrate the potential applicability of this new class of low-energy emitters in future photonic applications, such as nonclassical light sources for quantum communication or quantum cryptography, we have successfully conducted single-molecule photon-correlation experiments of 2, showing distinct antibunching as required for single-photon emitters.