This award by the Inorganic, Bioinorganic and Organometallic Chemistry program supports research by Professor Kirk S. Schanze of the University of Florida to pursue studies on the "Photophysics of Metal-Organic and Organometallic pi-Conjugated Oligomers". Pi-conjugated polymers and oligomers comprise a new generation of molecular materials with technologically useful optical, electronic, and opto-electronic properties. Research is underway to investigate the excited state properties of mono-disperse pi-conjugated oligomers that contain transition metal chromophores to gain a molecular level understanding of their excited state properties. Objectives include an understanding of how transition metal chromophores modify the excited state properties of the pi-conjugated organic systems and how the pi-conjugated molecules modify the excited state properties of the metal complexes, particularly the properties of the triplet-pi, pi* manifold of the conjugated oligomer. Metal ion complexes involved in metal-to-ligand charge transfer (MLCT) excited states include Ru(II), Os(II) and Rh(III) with alpha-thiophene oligomers that modulate the energy gap between the MLCT and triplet-pi,pi* manifolds in both mono- and polynuclear complexes. The excited state properties of platinum-acetylide oligomers will be examined to provide clear information concerning the spatial extent of the singlet-pi,pi* and triplet-pi,pi* excitons and to understand how inter-chain interactions modify the excited state properties of the pi-conjugated Pt-acetylides.
The photochemistry of pi-conjugated molecules attached to transition metal ions are being investigated as to their basic photophysical properties with applications that include novel electronic light-emitting devices, light-to electrical energy conversion, laser light protection, and plastic electronic circuits.
