IrIII as a strategy for preorganisation in H-bonded motifs

We report how four sets of thiourea-based heterodimers interact, and how incorporation of a metal centre imparts reduced degrees of rotational freedom. Through single-crystal X-ray diffraction, 1H NMR, and UV-vis analysis, the interactions of these systems are dissected and presented. These motifs are considered to be stable and desirable for supramolecular hydrogen-bonded functional materials. Interpretation of the structural design of thiourea-based ligand and its incorporation into metal complexes can contribute to the understanding of preorganised self-assembly and open new pathways in design of novel soft materials. This work also contributes to the unexplored library of hydrogen-bonded metal complexes based on iridium. As such we examined the photoluminescence of the system of general formula [Ir(C^N)2(N^S)] and the effect of hydrogen bonding on the emission properties when combined with different n-heteroacenes.