The effect of bromine substitution on the charge-transfer emission of the complex of phenanthrene and tetracyanobenzene

The absorption spectra of the charge-transfer complexes of sym-tetracyanobenzene (TCNB) with phenanthrene, 9-bromophenanthrene, and 9,10-dibromophenanthrene are measured in chloroform solutions at room temperature. The total emission and phosphorescence spectra of the donors and the complexes are measured at 77 K in rigid glasses. The phosphorescence decay lifetimes are determined for phenanthrene, TCNB, and for the phenanthrene-TCNB complex, and a decrease in the phenanthrene-TCNB complex lifetime relative to the lifetimes of the two components is observed. The luminescence spectra of the complexes exhibit both a red shift and a lack of structure as compared with the donor spectra. The results are interpreted, in agreement with the results of Iwata et al. for the phenanthrene-TCNB complex (1), as an indication that there is a considerable degree of charge-transfer character in the lowest triplet state (T₁). Bromine substitution leads to a decrease in the energy of the phenanthrene triplet state. As a result, the energy gap between the donor molecule triplet state and the complex charge-transfer triplet state decreases from phenanthrene, to 9-bromophenanthrene, to 9,10-dibromophenanthrene. The results suggest that the proximity of these two triplet states in 9,10-dibromophenanthrene and its charge-transfer complex leads to some local donor triplet state character in the emitting complex triplet state.