Making crystals that emit various colors in response to very weak stimuli with platinum complexes
What is it about?
Pt(II) complexes, the composit materials of the divalent platinum ion and organic and inorganic ligands, form a square-planar geometry. Those often exhibit strong luminescence when the complex units are assembled. Crystals thus formed exhibit color changes in lumienscence depending on the environment, or in response to gentle stimuli such as vapor exposure or weak mechanical forces. Such pehnomenon of color changes are called chromism and the self assemled Pt(II) complex crystals exhibit chromic lumienscence as typical soft crystals. Here, strategies for fabricating chromic luminescent Pt(II) complexes are described from a crystal design perspective, focusing on the structural regulation of Pt(II) complexes that exhibit assembly-induced luminescence via metal–metal interactions and structural control of anionic Pt(II) complexes using cations.
Why is it important?
The diverse and flexible crystal structures of Pt(II) complexes, as stable and designable structural units, are promising not only as simple luminescent materials but also as luminescent chromic materials.