Title: Metalla-ynes and poly(metallayne)s: Synthesis, charaterization and optoelectronic applications

Abstract

Metalla-ynes and Poly(metallayne)s have emerged as a new class of materials for opto-electronic (O-E) applications. These metal-based complexes and polymers have potential applications in photovoltaics, light-emitting diodes (LEDs), photo-switch and sensors. These materials are of particular interest due to their extended π-electron conjugation along the complex backbone. Besides, these materials can be produced over flexible substrates covering large areas and their photo-physical properties can be tuned by smart variation of the spacer groups. It was found that the luminescence in the pure organic complexes is restricted to fluorescent emissions as the electronic transitions only occur between singlet states in the molecules while the incorporation of a heavy metal allows accessing the triplet states. The inclusion of a heavy metal like Pt(II) along the polymer backbone imparted large spin-orbit coupling to the poly(metallayne) materials to allow light emission from the triplet excited state. The triplet emission is extremely efficient, approaching 100% efficiency at low temperatures, making the Pt(II) poly-ynes good model systems to study the triplet excited state. The introduction of a second d- or f-block metal fragment in the main chain or side chain of Pt(II) polymers has been found to further modulate the underlying properties of the mixed metalla-ynes and poly-ynes. Herein, I will focus on the synthesis, spectroscopic characterization and photo-physical properties of metal-based complexes and poly-ynes. The opto-electronic (O-E) applications of these type of materials will be also highlighted and discussed.