Luminescent Bimetallic Two-Coordinate Gold(I) Complexes Utilizing Janus Carbenes

A series of bimetallic carbene-metal-amide (cMa) complexes have been prepared with bridging biscarbene ligands to serve as a model for the design of luminescent materials with large oscillator strengths and small energy differences between the singlet and triplet states (Δ E ST ). The complexes have a general structure (R 2 N)Au(:carbene─carbene:)Au(NR 2 ). The bimetallic complexes show solvation-dependent absorption and emission that is analyzed in detail. It is found that the molar absorptivity of the bimetallic complexes is correlated with the energy barrier to rotation of the metal–ligand bond. The bimetallic cMa complexes also exhibit short emission lifetimes (τ = 200–300 ns) with high photoluminescence efficiencies (Φ PL > 95%). The radiative rates of bimetallic cMa complexes are 3–4 times faster than that of the corresponding monometallic complexes. Analysis of temperature-dependent luminescence data indicates that the lifetime for the singlet state (τ S 1 ) of bimetallic cMa complexes is near 12 ns with a Δ E ST of 40–50 meV. The presented compounds provide a general design for cMa complexes to achieve small values for Δ E ST while retaining high radiative rates. Solution-processed organic light-emitting devices (OLEDs) made using two of the complexes as luminescent dopants show high efficiency and low roll-off at high luminance.