Photophysical properties of copper(I) and zinc(II) complexes containing phosphinoquinoline ligands

Several copper(I) and zinc(II) complexes with 8-(diphenylphosphino)quinoline (PPh₂qn) or 8-diphenylphosphinoquinaldine (PPh₂qna) have been prepared. These ligands contain both imine and phosphine moieties, which can act as coordinating groups. X-ray analysis of the Cu(I) complexes reveals that [Cu(PPh₂qn)₂]PF₆ (Cu-1) and [Cu(PPh₂qn)₂]PF₆ (Cu-2), coordinated by two PPh₂qn and PPh₂qna ligands respectively, are obtained. In the Zn(II) complexes, a structural study shows that [ZnCl₂(PPh₂qn)] (Zn-1), [ZnBr₂(PPh₂qn)] (Zn-2) and [ZnI₂(PPh₂qn)] (Zn-3) are coordinated by one PPh₂qn ligand and two of the corresponding halogeno ligands (Cl⁻, Br⁻ and I⁻). In the solid state Cu-1 and Cu-2 show luminescence which is assigned to a ³MLCT transition involving π∗ of the quinoline group, as shown in the [Cu(dmp)(diphosphine)]⁺ complexes; due to the reduced bulkiness of the coordination sphere around the copper atom, no emission is observed in solution. Zn-1 shows a similar emission band to that of free PPh₂qn at both room temperature and 77 K. It suggests the emission bands should be assigned to a ligand-centered (LC) transition. In the solid state, it is found that the emissive energy of the complexes shift to lower energy and the energy depends on the halogeno ligands in the zinc complexes.