Interactions between metal centers in dimeric transition metal complexes (TMCs) play important roles in their excited-state energetics and pathways and, thus, affect their photophysical properties relevant to their applications, for example, photoluminescent materials and photocatalysis. Here, we report electronic and nuclear structural dynamics studies of two photoexcited pyrazolate-bridged [Pt(ppy)(μ-R₂pz)]₂-type Pt(II) dimers (ppy = 2-phenylpyridine, μ-R₂pz = 3,5-substituted pyrazolate): [Pt(ppy)(μ-H₂pz)]₂ (1) and [Pt(NDI-ppy)(μ-Ph₂pz)]₂ (2, NDI = 1,4,5,8-naphthalenediimide), both of which have distinct ground-state Pt–Pt distances. X-ray transient absorption (XTA) spectroscopy at the Pt L_III-edge revealed a new d-orbital vacancy due to the one-electron oxidation of the Pt centers in 1 and 2. However, while a transient Pt–Pt contraction was observed in 2, such an effect was completely absent in 1, demonstrating how the excited states of these complexes are determined by the overlap of the Pt (d_z²) orbitals, which is tuned by the steric bulk of the pyrazolate R-groups in the 3- and 5-positions. In tandem with analysis of the Pt–Pt distance structural parameter, we observed photoinduced electron transfer in 2 featuring a covalently linked NDI acceptor on the ppy ligand. The formation and subsequent decay of the NDI radical anion absorption signals were detected upon photoexcitation using optical transient absorption spectroscopy. The NDI radical anion decayed on the same time scale, hundreds of picoseconds, as that of the d-orbital vacancy signal of the oxidized Pt–Pt core observed in the XTA measurements. The data indicated an ultrafast formation of the charge-separated state and subsequent charge recombination to the original Pt(II–II) species.

Samantha Brown

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