Aggregation-Induced Electrochemiluminescence from a Cyclometalated Iridium(III) Complex

Aggregation-induced emission has been extensively found in organic compounds and metal complexes. In contrast, aggregation-induced electrochemiluminescence (AI-ECL) is rarely observed. Here, we employ two tridentate ligands [2,2′:6′,2″-terpyridine (tpy) and 1,3-bis(1 H -benzimidazol-2-yl)benzene (bbbiH 3 )] to construct a cyclometalated iridium(III) complex, [Ir(tpy)(bbbi)] ( 1 ), showing strong AI-ECL. Its crystal structure indicates that neighboring [Ir(tpy)(bbbi)] molecules are connected through both π–π-stacking interactions and hydrogen bonds. These supramolecular interactions can facilitate the self-assembly of complex 1 into nanoparticles in an aqueous solution. The efficient restriction of molecular vibration in these nanoparticles leads to strong AI-ECL emission of complex 1 . In a dimethyl sulfoxide–water (H 2 O) mixture with a gradual increase in the H 2 O fraction from 20% to 98%, complex 1 showed a ∼39-fold increase in the electrochemiluminescence (ECL) intensity, which was ∼4.04 times as high as that of [Ru(bpy) 3 ] 2+ under the same experimental conditions. Moreover, the binding of bovine serum albumin to the nanoparticles of complex 1 can improve the ECL emission of this complex, facilitating the understanding of the mechanism of AI-ECL for future applications.