A new bis-cyclometalated iridium(III) complex [Ir(dmabt) 2 (bipy)][PF 6 ] (3) (dmabt = 4-(benzo[d]thiazol-2-yl)-N,N-dimethylaniline, bipy = 2,2'-bipyridine) has been synthesized and fully characterized. The structure of complex 3 has been determined by X-ray analyses which shows that the central iridium(III) ion assumes distorted octahedral geometry. The photoluminescence spectrum exhibits orange emission maximum at 612 nm with quantum yield of 17% at 298 K. The frontier molecular orbital diagrams and the spin-allowed singlet-singlet electronic transitions of 3 have been calculated with density functional theory (DFT) and time-dependent DFT (TD-DFT), and the UV-Vis spectra are discussed based on the theoretical calculations.

The asymmetric unit of the title compound, C22H23N5O2, contains two independent mol­ecules with similar conformations; the terminal pyridine rings are oriented at dihedral angles of 23.99 (8) and 18.07 (8)° with respect to the central benzene ring in one mol­ecule and 28.99 (8) and 23.22 (8)° in the other. In the crystal, N—H⋯O and weak C—H⋯O hydrogen bonds link the mol­ecules into a three-dimensional supra­molecular structure. Weak inter­molecular C—H⋯π inter­actions are also observed in the crystal.