Design and Synthesis of New Luminescent Materials: from Light Sources to Biological Applications

The synthesis of luminescent metal complexes is a very challenging task since they can be regarded as the starting point for many different areas. Luminescent complexes, in fact, can be used for technological, industrial, medical and biological applications. They consist of two main parts: the central core of the complex, a metal atom, and various organic ligands bonded to it. Among all the transition metal complexes, Iridium(III) ones show the best photophysical properties: generally, they have high quantum yields, very long lifetimes and possess easily tunable emissions throughout the visible range. During my PhD I prepared different families of Ir(III) complexes suitable for various applications. In detail, my thesis deals with the synthesis of new functionalized chelating ligands that have been used to obtain phosphorescent Ir(III) complexes. In particular I synthesised isocyanides, phenyltetrazole and pyridiltriazolylidene derivatives and various corresponding Ir(III) complexes with peculiar photophysical properties, suitable for the preparation of electroluminescent devices. Moreover, I synthesized pyridiltriazole chelating ligands for the preparation of Ir(III) complexes able to be embebbed in nanoparticles. At the same time, I set up the synthesis of various carbazole-terpyridines systems containing substituent of different length and aromatic character. During my studies, I enhanced my knowledges about the techniques for the spectroscopical characterization of the obtained compounds, such as mono- and bidimensional and VT- NMR, UV-vis and spectrofluorimetry.