The New Iridium Complexes Involving Pyridylpyridine Derivatives for the Saturated Blue Emission

To obtain a saturated blue phosphorescent material with a good color purity, we have synthesized the new blue emitting iridium complexes with 2, 6-difluoro-3-(4-methylpyridin-2-yl)pyridine (4-Medfpypy) as a main ligand. We expected that the LUMO energy levels of the complex might increase upon introduction of an electron donating group such as a methyl group to the pyridyl moieties of the ligand, leading to a wide energy gap of the complex to give the saturated blue emission. We have also introduced a variety of the ancillary ligands to the iridium center to compare the effect of the ancillary ligards on the emission of their complexes. The resulting iridium complexes, Ir(4-Me-dfpypy)(3), Ir(4-Me-dfpypy)(2)(acac), Ir(4-Me-dfpypy)(2)(pic) and Ir(4-Me-dfpypy)(2)(trzl-CH3) where acac, plc, and trzl-CH3 represent acetylacetonate, picolinate, and 2-(5-methyl-2H-1,2,4-triazol-3-yl) pyridinate, respectively exhibited the blue emission at 451, 447, 440 and 425 nm in CH2Cl2 solution. The organic light emitting device (OLED) employing homoleptic Ir(4-Me-dfpypy)(3) as the blue dopant was prepared and their electroluminescence was investigated. Ir(4-Me-dfpypy)(3) exhibited the blue emission of CIE coordinates (0.22, 0.32).