Development of first-row
transition metal complexes with
similar
luminescence and photoredox properties as widely used RuII polypyridines is attractive because metals from the first transition
series are comparatively abundant and inexpensive. The weaker ligand
field experienced by the valence d-electrons of first-row transition
metals challenges the installation of the same types of metal-to-ligand
charge transfer (MLCT) excited states as in precious metal complexes,
due to rapid population of energetically lower-lying metal-centered
(MC) states. In a family of isostructural tris(diisocyanide) complexes
of the 3d6 metals Cr0, MnI, and FeII, the increasing effective nuclear charge and ligand field
strength allow us to control the energetic order between the 3MLCT and 3MC states, whereas pyrene decoration
of the isocyanide ligand framework provides control over intraligand
(ILPyr) states. The chromium(0) complex shows red 3MLCT phosphorescence because all other excited states are
higher in energy. In the manganese(I) complex, a microsecond-lived
dark 3ILPyr state, reminiscent of the types
of electronic states encountered in many polyaromatic hydrocarbon
compounds, is the lowest and becomes photoactive. In the iron(II)
complex, the lowest MLCT state has shifted to so much higher energy
that 1ILPyr fluorescence occurs, in parallel
to other excited-state deactivation pathways. Our combined synthetic-spectroscopic-theoretical
study provides unprecedented insights into how effective nuclear charge,
ligand field strength, and ligand π-conjugation affect the energetic
order between MLCT and ligand-based excited states, and under what
circumstances these individual states become luminescent and exploitable
in photochemistry. Such insights are the key to further developments
of luminescent and photoredox-active first-row transition metal complexes.