Crowded Cu(I) complexes involving benzo[h]quinoline: pi-stacking effects and long-lives excited states.

The Friedländer condensation was employed to synthesize two series of 3,3'-polymethylene bridged ligands, L, based on 2-(2'-pyridyl)-benzo[h]quinoline and 2,2'-bibenzo[h]quinoline (BHQ) along with the fully aromatic naphtho[1,2-b]-1,10-phenanthroline. Complexes [Cu(L)(2)](+) were prepared as their perchlorate or hexafluorophosphate salts. The solution state structures were analyzed by NMR and shielding effects reflected significant interligand pi-stacking interaction in the complexes. Solid-state structures of the complexes where L = 3,3'-tetramethylene-2,2'-bibenzo[h]quinoline or naphtho[1,2-b]-1,10-phenanthroline were determined by X-ray analysis. The tetramethylene bridged complex showed a highly distorted coordination geometry with the BHQ rings of opposing ligands pi-stacked at a interplanar distance of about 3.37 A. Complexes of the BHQ series showed a pronounced MLCT absorption maximum which shifted bathochromically from 496 to 610 nm as the 3,3'-bridge decreased from 4 to 2 carbons. The BHQ complexes luminesced strongly in CH(2)Cl(2) solution and the tetramethylene-bridged system showed the longest yet recorded excited-state lifetime for a copper MLCT excited state, tau = 5.3 micros and Phi = 0.10.