Octupolar organometallic Pt(II) NCN-pincer complexes; Synthesis, electronic, photophysical, and NLO properties

A series of organometallic octupolar 1,3,5-substituted-2,4,6-styryl-benzene complexes was synthesized by post-modification of parent [PtCl(NCN-CHO-4)], i.e. 1,3,5-tri-R-2,4,6-tris[(4-(PtCl)(3,5-bis[(dimethylamino)methyl]styryl)]benzene (NCN = [C₆H₂(CH₂NMe₂)₂-2,6]^– in which R = OMe, H, Br (1–3). Their synthesis involved a triple Horner-Wadsworth-Emmons reaction of [PtCl(NCN-CHO-4)] with the appropriate tris[(diethoxyphosphoryl)]methyl]benzene derivative. The ¹⁹⁵Pt{¹H} NMR chemical shift reflects the electronic properties of the π-system to which it is connected. The UV/Vis bands of the octupolar platinum complexes are only slightly red-shifted (by 5–12 nm) with respect to those of corresponding stilbenoid Pt-Cl pincer compounds (i.e., the separate branches), suggesting that there is only a limited electronic interaction between these branches. The fluorescence Stokes shift, quantum yields and lifetimes of 1–3 also are of the same order of magnitude as those of stilbenoid Pt-Cl pincer compounds, indicating that a dipolar excited state is formed, which is localized on one of the three branches. The hyper-Rayleigh scattering technique revealed hyperpolarizabilites β_HRS of 430, 870 and 183 × 10⁻³⁰ esu for 1, 2 and 3, respectively, which are among the highest for transition metal complexes. The highest value was found for the compound lacking a donor or acceptor group at the central core, lending support to the idea that dispersion overwhelms charge transfer in determining the magnitude of the first hyperpolarizability in octupolar compounds.