Grant: Discovery Grants Program - Individual

Triarylboron compounds are an important class of materials for optoelectronic devices and anion sensing applications due to their Lewis acidity/electron accepting ability and their fluorescence. Transition metal complexes, in contrast, are well known for their catalytic reactivity, their colors, and their ability to greatly enhance phosphorescence, a highly desired property for organic light emitting diodes (OLEDs) and oxygen sensors. This proposal concerns the development of synthetic methods for hybrid compounds that contain both transition metal ions and triarylboron groups and the investigation of photophysical properties and potential applications of the new compounds. Using appropriate ligands, the triarylboron and the metal center can work in synergy to enhance Lewis acidity/electron accepting ability of the boron center and to promote Metal-to-ligand charge transfer, color tuning, and phosphorescence, hence improving their performance as light emitting/charge transport materials in OLEDs, as sensors for anions such as fluorides and for molecular oxygen, and as catalysts for chemical bond activation. The proposed research will focus on (1) syntheses of new triarylboron-containing ligands and their metal complexes, (2) fundamental understanding of the impact of a triarylboron center on the properties of the metal complex and vice versa and the impact of ligand's geometry on photophysical and electronic properties of the compounds, and (3) their possible utilization in OLEDs, anion and oxygen sensing, C-H bond activation and self-assembly of polymetallic systems.