TADF and X-ray Radioluminescence of New Cu(I) Halide Complexes: Different Halide Effects on These Processes.

A series of complexes [Cu2X2(Pic3PO)2] (X = Cl, Br, I) based on tris(pyridin-2-ylmethyl)phosphine oxide (Pic3PO) has been synthesized. At 298 K, these compounds exhibit thermally activated delayed fluorescence (TADF) of 1(M+X)LCT type with λmax varying from 485 to 545 nm, and quantum efficiency up to 54%. In the TADF process, the halide effect appears as the emission intensification and bathochromic shift of λmax in the following order X = I < Br < Cl. Upon X-ray irradiation, the title compounds emit radioluminescence, the emission bands of which have the same shape as those at TADF, thereby meaning a similar radiative excited state. By contrast to TADF, the halide effect in the radioluminescence is reversed: its intensity grows in the order X = Cl < Br < I, since heavier atoms absorb X-rays more efficiently. These findings essentially contribute to our knowledge about the halide effect in the photo- and radioluminescent Cu(I) halide emitters.

Crucial role of paramagnetic ligands for magnetostructural anomalies in "breathing crystals".

Breathing crystals based on polymer-chain complexes of Cu(hfac)(2) with nitroxides exhibit thermally and light-induced magnetostructural anomalies in many aspects similar to a spin crossover. In the present work, we report the synthesis and investigation of a new family of Cu(hfac)(2) complexes with tert-butylpyrazolylnitroxides and their nonradical structural analogues. The complexes with paramagnetic ligands clearly exhibit structural rearrangements in the copper(II) coordination units and accompanying magnetic phenomena characteristic for breathing crystals. Contrary to that, their structural analogues with diamagnetic ligands do not undergo rearrangements in the copper(II) coordination environments. This confirms experimentally the crucial role of paramagnetic ligands and exchange interactions between them and copper(II) ions for the origin of magnetostructural anomalies in this family of molecular magnets.

Kinetic magnetic-field effect involving the small biologically relevant inorganic radicals NO and O2(·-).

Oxidation of dihydrorhodamine 123 (DHR) to rhodamine 123 (RH) by oxoperoxonitrite (ONOO(-)), formed through recombination of NO and O(2)(·-) radicals resulting from thermal decomposition of 3-morpholinosydnonimine (SIN-1) in buffered aerated aqueous solution at pH 7.6, represents a kinetic model system of the reactivity of NO and O(2)(·-) in biochemical systems. A magnetic-field effect (MFE) on the yield of RH detected in this system is explored in the full range of fields between 0 and 18 T. It is found to increase in a nearly linear fashion up to a value of 5.5±1.6 % at 18 T and 23 °C (3.1±0.7 % at 40 °C). A theoretical framework to analyze the MFE in terms of the magnetic-field-enhanced recombination rate constant k(rec) of NO and O(2)(·-) due to magnetic mixing of T(0) and S spin states of the radical pair by the Δg mechanism is developed, including estimation of magnetic properties (g tensor and spin relaxation times) of NO and O(2)(·-) in aqueous solution, and calculation of the MFE on k(rec) using the theoretical formalism of Gorelik at al. The factor with which the MFE on k(rec) is translated to the MFE on the yield of ONOO(-) and RH is derived for various kinetic scenarios representing possible sink channels for NO and O(2)(·-). With reasonable assumptions for the values of some unknown kinetic parameters, the theoretical predictions account well for the observed MFE.

S(N)(H) approach in the synthesis of nitronyl nitroxides.

We show that the S(N)(H) approach opens up new possibilities in the synthesis of hetaryl-substituted nitronyl nitroxides. The reaction of 4,4,5,5-tetramethyl-4,5-dihydro-1H-imidazole-3-oxide-1-oxyl lithium salt with pyridine-, pyrimidine-, pyrazine-, isoquinoline-, phthalazine-, quinoxaline-, and 1,2,4-triazine-N-oxides readily gives rise to the corresponding paramagnetic hetarenes. The reaction of this salt with quinoxaline-1,4-dioxide enabled the synthesis of the first nitronyl nitroxide biradical with two spin-labeled fragments in the vicinal positions of the heteroaromatic cycle; the persistent biradicals of this type were not known earlier. The characterizations of all persistent radicals obtained by S(N)(H) synthetic strategy include X-ray crystal structures, EPR investigation, and static magnetic susceptibility measurements.