This research focused on the development of new metal triimine complexes of Pt(II), Pd(II), and Ni(II) for use in three types of molecular electronic devices: dye sensitized solar cells (DSSCs), organic light-emitting diodes (OLEDs), and organic field effect transistors (OFETs). Inorganic complexes combine many advantages of their chemical and photophysical properties and are processable on inexpensive and large area substrates for various optoelectronic applications. For DSSCs, a series of platinum (II) triimine complexes were synthesized and evaluated as dyes for nanocrystalline oxide semiconductors. Pt (II) forms four coordinate square planar complexes with various co-ligands and counterions and leads to spanning absorption across a wide range in the UV-Vis-NIR regions. When those compounds were applied to the oxide semiconductors, they led to photocurrent generation thus verifying the concept of their utility in solar cells. In the OLEDs project, a novel pyridyl-triazolate Pt(II) complex, Pt(ptp)2 was synthesized and generated breakthrough OLEDs. In the solution state, the electronic absorption and emission of the square planar structure results in metal-to-ligand charge transfer (MLCT) and an aggregation band. Tunable photoluminescence and electroluminescence colors from blue to red wavelengths have been attained upon using Pt(ptp)2 under different experimental conditions and OLED architectures. In taking advantage of …

The luminescence properties of Van Der Waals' dimers and clusters of pyrene and diazapyrene have been investigated. Excimers, dimeric species which are associative in an excited electronic state and dissociative in their ground state, have long been established and play an important role in many areas of photochemistry. My work here focuses on the luminescence and absorption properties of ground state dimers/aggregates, which are less understood, and allows further characterization of the ground state and excited state association of these aromatic molecules.

Three different types of cage crown ethers have been prepared and their complexation properties with Ag(I) have been studied. Atomic absorption, fluorescence quenching, and UV absorption have been used to study the interaction between the hosts (cage crown ethers) and guests (Ag+). For the cage-annulated crown ethers that contain aromatic rings, cation-π and π-π interactions may contribute significantly to the overall complexation ability of the host system. Piperazine groups may cooperate, and the piperazine nitrogen atoms provide unshared electrons, which may form a complex with Ag+. In addition, relatively soft donor atoms (e.g., Br) are well-suited for complexation with Ag+, which is a softer Lewis acid than alkali metal cations.

The square-planar tetracyanonickelate(II) anion was intercalated into 2:1 and 3:1 Mg-Al layered double hydroxide systems (LDHs). In the 2:1 material, the anion holds itself at an angle of about 30° to the layers, whereas in the 3:1 material it lies more or less parallel to the layers. This is confirmed by orientation effects in the infrared spectra of the intercalated materials and by X-ray diffraction (XRD) data. The measured basal spacings for the intercalated LDH hosts are approximately 11 Å for the 2:1 and approximately 8 Å for the 3:1. The IR of the 2:1 material shows a slight splitting in the ν(CN) peak, which is suppressed in that compound's oriented IR spectrum, indicating that at least some of the intercalated anion's polarization is along the z-axis. This effect is not seen in the 3:1 material. A comparison between chloride LDHs and nitrate LDHs was made with respect to intercalation of tetracyanonickelate(II) anions. Both XRD data and atomic absorption spectroscopy (AAS) data of the LDH tetracyanonickelates confirms that there are no significant differences between the products from the two types of starting materials. The presence of a weak ν(NO) peak in the IR spectra of those samples made from nitrate …

Various gold complexes were computationally investigated, to probe their photophysical, geometric, and bonding properties. The geometry of AuI complexes (ground state singlet) is very sensitive to the electronic nature of the ligands: σ-donors gave a two-coordinate, linear shape; however, σ-acceptors yielded a three-coordinate, trigonal planar geometry. Doublet AuIIL3 complexes distort to T-shape, and are thus ground state models of the corresponding triplet AuIL3. The disproportionation of AuIIL3 to AuIL3 and AuIIIL3 is endothermic for all ligands investigated, however, σ-donors are better experimental targets for AuII complexes. For dimeric AuI complexes, only one gold center in the optimized triplet exciton displays a Jahn-Teller distortion, and the Au---Au distance is reduced versus the ground state distance (i.e., two reasons for large Stokes' shifts).

A series of heteroleptic and homoleptic platinum(II) complexes has been synthesized and characterized towards their use in thin film devices such as organic light-emitting diodes (OLEDs) and organic thin film transistors (OTFTs). Pyridylpyrazolate- and pyridyltetrazolate-containing ligands were selected due to their structural rigidity and ease of functionalization. Single-crystal x-ray diffraction studies of two selected heteroleptic complexes show strong aggregation with preferential stacking into vertical columns with a varying degree of overlap of the neighboring square planar molecular units. It is shown that the close proximity of the molecules to one another in the stack increases semiconducting character, phosphorescence quantum yields, and shorter radiative lifetimes. The potential for these materials towards incorporation into high-efficiency doping free white OLEDs (DFW-OLEDs) for solid-state lighting and display applications has been realized and will be expanded upon by present and future embodiments of materials in this thesis.

Two major topics that involve synthetic strategies to enhance the phosphorescence of organic and inorganic luminophores have been investigated. The first topic involves, the photophysical and photochemical properties of the gold (I) complexes LAuIX (L = CO, RNC where R = alkyl or aryl group; X = halide or pseudohalide), which have been investigated and found to exhibit Au-centered phosphorescence and tunable photochemical reactivity. The investigations have shown a clear relationship between the luminescence energies and association modes. We have also demonstrated for the first time that aurophilic bonding and the ligand p-acceptance can sensitize the photoreactivity of Au(I) complexes. The second topic involves conventional organic fluorophores (arenes), which are made to exhibit room-temperature phosphorescence that originates from spin-orbit coupling owing to either an external or internal heavy atom effect in systematically designed systems that contain d10 metals. Facial complexation of polycyclic arenes to tris[{m-(3,4,5,6-tetrafluorophenylene)}mercury(II)], C18F12Hg3 (1) results in crystalline adducts that exhibit bright RGB (red-green-blue) phosphorescence bands at room temperature. This arene-centered phosphorescence is always accompanied by a reduction of the triplet excited state lifetime due to its sensitization by accelerating the radiative instead of the non-radiative decay. The results of both topics are significant for rational design of …

Multiscale modeling is an effective tool for integrating different computational methods, creating a way of modeling diverse chemical and physical phenomena. Presented are studies on a variety of chemical problems at different computational scales and also the combination of different computational methods to study a single phenomenon. The methods used encompass density functional theory (DFT), molecular dynamics (MD) simulations and finite element analysis (FEA). The DFT studies were conducted both on the molecular level and using plane-wave methods. The particular topics studied using DFT are the rational catalyst design of complexes for C—H bond activation, oxidation of nickel surfaces and the calculation of interaction properties of carbon dioxide containing systems directed towards carbon dioxide sequestration studies. Second and third row (typically precious metals) transition metal complexes are known to possess certain electronic features that define their structure and reactivity, and which are usually not observed in their first-row (base metal) congeners. Can these electronic features be conferred onto first-row transition metals with the aid of non-innocent and/or very high-field ligands? Using DFT, the impact of these electronic features upon methane C—H bond activation was modeled using the dipyridylazaallyl (smif) supporting ligand for late, first-row transition metal (M) imide, oxo and …

Chiral gold complexes have been applied in homogeneous catalytic reactions since 1986, in some cases with high enantioselectivity. Acyclic diaminocarbene (ADC) ligands are acyclic analogues of N-heterocyclic carbenes (NHCs) that have larger N-CCarbene-N angles and stronger donating ability. ADCs have been developed as alternatives to phosphine and NHC ligands in homogeneous gold catalysis. In 2012, a new series of chiral gold(I) ADCs were first developed by Slaughter's group and were shown to give remarkable enantioselectivities in some reactions. Because of the hindered rotation of the N-CCarbene bonds of ADC, chiral ADC substituents can easily get close to the metal center in some conformations, although two rotameric structures are formed if the chiral amine is nonsymmetric. The selective of specific ADC conformations was the initial focus of this study. Formational selectivity of one diastereomer of an ADC ligand during synthesis was examines by measuring the relative rates of diastereomer formation in a 1H NMR kinetic study. The potential for converting multiple conformational isomers of ADCs into a single conformation, or at least a simpler mixture, was examined. This study used the analogy that anti- isomer has electronic and structural similarity with urea/thiourea, raising the possibility that 1,8-naphthyridine can be used to …

The diversity of transition metal complexes allows for a wide range of chemical processes to be mediated by the metal, from catalysis to surface chemistry. Investigations into the structure and electronic configuration of transition metal complexes allow for tuning of desired species by modifications to the ligands and/or metals to achieve more efficient thermodynamics and kinetics for the process of interest. Transition metals, often used in catalysts for a number of important processes, require detailed descriptions of intermediates, transition states and products to fully characterize a reaction mechanism(s) in order to design more active and efficient catalysts. Computational investigations into inorganic catalysts are explored with the aim of understanding the activity of each species and how modifications of supporting ligands, co-ligands and metals vary the interaction along the reaction pathway. Reported results give important insight into the development of the most active complexes in addition to determining the least active complexes to aid experimental development. This report first investigates the mechanisms of two unique transfer reactions: 1) formation of low coordinate nickel-nitrene ((P~P)Ni=NR; P~P = 1,2-bis(dihydrophosphino)-ethane or 1,2-bis(difluoromethylphosphino)-ethane) complexes as catalysts for nitrogen atom transfer and 2) oxidation of a triphosphorus niobium complex, [(η2-P3SnPh3)Nb(OMe)3], for the transfer of the phosphorus …

The scope of work in this dissertation has comprised several major investigations on applications and theoretical studies of ab initio quantum mechanics and density functional theory where those techniques were applied to the following: (i) investigation of the performance of density functionals for the computations of molecular properties of 3d transition metal containing systems; (ii) guidance for experimental groups for rational design of macrometallocyclic multinuclear complexes with superior π-acidity and π-basicity that are most suitable for p- and n-type semiconductors of metal-organic molecules and nanomaterials; (iii) investigation of the metallo-aromaticity of multi-nuclear metal complexes; (iv) investigation of the kinetics and thermodynamics of copper-mediated nitrene insertion into C-H and H-H bond; and (v) accurate computations of dissociation energies of hydrogen-bonded DNA duplex moieties utilizing the resolution of identity correlation consistent composite approach (RI-ccCA).

A series of 28 square-planar dithiol(diimine)platinum(II) chromophoric complexes have been synthesized, characterized, and evaluated for potential efficacy in sensitization of solid state photovoltaic devices to the near-infrared regions of the electromagnetic spectrum. The effect of molecular stacking in the solid state and self-association in solution are shown to influence spectral, electronic, and magnetic properties of the chromophores. Such properties are investigated in the pure form and as partners in donor-acceptor charge transfer adducts. Finally, selected chromophores have been incorporated into single layer schottky diodes as neat films and as dopants in multi-layer organic photovoltaic devices. Evaluation of the devices internal quantum efficiency and voltage-current was measured as proof of concept.