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Photophysical and biological characterization of new cationic cyclometalated M(III) complexes of rhodium and iridium

Accepted Manuscript Photophysical and Biological Characterization of new cationic cyclometalated M(III) complexes of rhodium and iridium Marion Graf , Yvonne Gothe , Nils Metzler-Nolte , Rafał Czerwieniec , Karlheinz Sünkel PII: S0022-328X(14)00213-7 DOI: 10.1016/j.jorganchem.2014.04.031 Reference: JOM 18566 To appear in: Journal of Organometallic Chemistry Received Date: 10 December 2013 Revised Date: 28 April 2014 Accepted Date: 29 April 2014 Please cite this article as: M. Graf, Y. Gothe, N. Metzler-Nolte, R. Czerwieniec, K. Sünkel, Photophysical and Biological Characterization of new cationic cyclometalated M(III) complexes of rhodium and iridium, Journal of Organometallic Chemistry (2014), doi: 10.1016/j.jorganchem.2014.04.031. This is a PDF file of an unedited manuscript that has been accepted for publication. As a service to our customers we are providing this early version of the manuscript. 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AC C EP TE D M AN U SC RI PT ACCEPTED MANUSCRIPT AC C EP TE D M AN U SC RI PT ACCEPTED MANUSCRIPT ACCEPTED MANUSCRIPT Photophysical and Biological Characterization of new cationic cyclometalated M(III) complexes of rhodium and iridium Marion Grafa, Yvonne Gotheb, Nils Metzler-Nolteb, Rafał Czerwieniecc a RI PT Karlheinz Sünkela* Department of Chemistry, Ludwig Maximilian University of Munich, Butenandtstraße 5–13, 81377 Munich, Germany b Institute of Physical and Theoretical Chemistry Universität Regensburg, Universitätsstraße SC c Ruhr University Bochum, Universitätsstraße 150, 44801 Bochum, Germany ABSTRACT M AN U 31, 93053 Regensburg, Germany Synthesis and characterization of new cyclometalated complex salts [M(ptpy)2(ddmp)]PF6 (M = Rh, 1; M = Ir, 2; ptpy = 2-(p-tolyl)pyridinato; ddmp = 4,7-dichloro-2,9-dimethyl-1,10phenanthroline) is described. Compounds 1 and 2 were obtained by the reaction of ddmp with the complexes [{M(µ-Cl)(ptpy)2}2] (M = Rh, Ir) in a mixture of CH2Cl2/MeOH/H2O under conditions. The compounds 1 and 2 crystallized from TE D reflux dichloromethane/chloroform/hexane in the triclinic space group P 1̄ and their molecular structures were confirmed by single-crystal X-ray diffraction. Compound 2 exhibits strong yellow phosphorescence in a polymer matrix and in solution at ambient temperature. Both EP compounds display significant cytotoxicity against human cancer cell lines with the IC50 AC C values in the high nanomolar range. __________________________________________________________________________ * Corresponding author. Tel.: +49 89218077773; fax: +49 89218077774 E-mail address: suenk@cup.uni-muenchen.de (K. Sünkel) Dedicated to Prof. Ingo –Peter Lorenz on the occasion of his 70th birthday 2 ACCEPTED MANUSCRIPT 1. Introduction Bis-cyclometalated Ir(III) complexes play an important role in the development of modern optoelectronic technologies (e.g. organic light emitting diodes − OLEDs [1] and light-emitting electrochemical cells − LEECs [2]), (bio-) chemical labels and sensors [3]. In the last years we described the synthesis and characterisation of several neutral cyclometalated M(III) RI PT complexes of the elements rhodium and iridium [4], including complexes containing biomolecules as ancillary ligands [5]. It was found by several groups that for bio-medical diagnostic and therapeutic studies [3c, 69] the use of water-soluble complexes of the type [M(C^N)2(N^N)]+ was particularly SC beneficial. Starting from the long-known compounds with M = Rh [10] and Ir [11], C^N = 2phenylpyridinato (ppy) and N^N = 2,2’-bipyridine (bpy) or phenanthroline (phen), numerous studies were performed to elucidate the effects of various substituents on the photophysical M AN U and electrochemical properties of the complexes and how they influence the device performance in different applications. [12-14] In this paper we describe the synthesis and characterization of two new cyclometalated complex salts [M(ptpy)2(ddmp)]PF6 (M = Rh, 1; M = Ir, 2; ptpyH = 2-(p-tolyl)pyridine; ddmp = 4,7-dichloro-2,9-dimethyl-1,10-phenanthroline). The photophysical studies on the room- TE D temperature luminescence of 2 as well as investigations of the cytotoxicity of 1 and 2 towards the cell lines MCF-7 and HT-29 are presented. 2. Experimental EP 2.1. General considerations All manipulations were performed under an atmosphere of dry nitrogen using AC C conventional Schlenk techniques. Solvents and Hptpy were used as received (from Aldrich). [{M(µ-Cl)(ptpy)2}2] (M = Rh, Ir) were prepared by our published method [4e, 4b]. NMR spectra were recorded in CD2Cl2 using a Jeol Eclipse 400 instrument operating at 400 MHz (1H) and 100 MHz (13C) respectively. Chemical shifts are given in ppm, referenced to the solvent signals at δ = 5.30 (1H) or 53.8 ppm (13C). Assignments of NMR signals refer to scheme 1. Mass spectra were measured using a Jeol Mstation JMS 700 spectrometer. Elemental analyses (C, H, N) were performed by the Microanalytical Laboratory of the Department of Chemistry, LMU Munich, using a Heraeus Elementar Vario El instrument. Dulbecco’s Modified Eagle’s Medium (DMEM), containing 10% fetal calf serum, 1% penicillin and streptomycin, was used as growth medium. MCF-7 and HT-29 cells were detached from the wells with trypsin and EDTA, harvested by centrifugation and resuspended 3 ACCEPTED MANUSCRIPT again in the cell culture medium. The assays were carried out on 96 well plates with 6000 (3000) cells per well for MCF-7 (HT-29, respectively). After 24 h of incubation at 37°C and 10% CO2, the cells were treated with the compounds 1 and 2 (with DMSO concentrations of 0.5%) with a final volume of 200 µl per well. For a negative control, one series of cells was left untreated. The cells were incubated for 48 h followed by adding 50 µl MTT (2.5 mg/ml). RI PT After an incubation time of 2 h, the medium was removed and 200 µl DMSO were added. The formazan crystals were dissolved and the absorption was measured at 550 nm, using a reference wavelength of 620 nm. Each test was repeated in quadruplicates in two independent SC experiments for each cell line. 2.2. Synthesis of [Rh(ptpy)2(ddmp)]PF6 (1) M AN U ((scheme 1)) To a solution of [{Rh(µ-Cl)(ptpy)2}2] (142 mg, 0.15 mmol) in 25 mL of a mixture of CH2Cl2/MeOH/H2O (2:2:1) the ligand 4,7-dichloro-2,9-dimethyl-1,10-phenanthroline (110 mg, 0.4 mmol) was added and the mixture refluxed with stirring for 2 h. After cooling to room temperature KPF6 (70 mg, 0.4 mmol) was added. The solvent was removed to dryness TE D in vacuo and the residue dissolved in dichloromethane and chromatographed on alumina with CH2Cl2/acetone (9:1) as the eluent. The solution was evaporated to dryness and the residue was redissolved in 5 ml of dichloromethane and the product was precipitated by slow diffusion of hexane. X-ray quality crystals were obtained by slow diffusion of hexane into a EP solution of dichloromethane/chloroform of the compound at room temperature. Yield: 130 mg (50.4 %). Anal. Calc. for C38H30Cl2F6N4PRh: C, 52.98; H, 3.51; N, 6.50. Found: C, 52.94; H, AC C 3.78; N, 6.63 %. MS (FAB+): m/z = 715.3 [M+] complex cation. 1H NMR: δ= 8.47 (s, 2 H, Hb), 7.96-7.78 (m, 4 H, H3 and H4), 7.71 (s, 2 H, Hf), 7.59 (d, 8 Hz, 2H, H8), 7.41 (“d”, 2H, H6), 6.92-6.86 (m, 4H, H5 and H9), 5.98 (s, 2H, H11), 2.15 (s, 6H), 2.05 (s, 6 H). 13C {1H} NMR: δ= 166.3 (d, 34 Hz, C12), 165.3 (C2), 165.1 (Ce), 149.3 (C6), 147.2 (Ca), 146.0 (Cd), 141.0, 140.9 (C7 and C10), 138.8 (C4), 133.9 (C11), 128.4 (Cf), 127.9 (Cc), 125.0, 124.9, 124.0 (C8, C9 and Cb), 122.9(C5), 120.2 (C3), 27.0 (Cg), 22.0 (C13). 2.3. Synthesis of [Ir(ptpy)2(ddmp)]PF6 (2) To a solution of [{Ir(µ-Cl)(ptpy)2}2] (169 mg, 0.15 mmol) in 25 mL of a mixture of CH2Cl2/MeOH/H2O (2:2:1) the ligand 4,7-dichloro-2,9-dimethyl-1,10-phenanthroline (110 mg, 0.4 mmol) was added and the mixture refluxed with stirring for 2 h. After cooling to 4 ACCEPTED MANUSCRIPT room temperature KPF6 (70 mg, 0.38 mmol) was added. The solvent was removed in vacuo and the residue was dissolved in dichloromethane and chromatographed on alumina with CH2Cl2/acetone (9:1) as the eluent. The solution was evaporated to dryness and the residue redissolved in 5 ml of dichloromethane. The product was precipitated by slow diffusion of hexane. Suitable crystals for X-ray diffraction were obtained by slow diffusion of hexane into RI PT a solution of dichloromethane/chloroform at room temperature. Yield: 200 mg (66 %). Anal. Calc. for C38H30Cl2F6IrN4P x 0.5 CHCl3: C, 45.76; H, 3.04; N, 5.54. Found: C, 46.00; H, 3.13; N, 5.66 %. MS (FAB+): m/z = 805.4 [M+] complex cation. NMR: δ= 8.49 (s, 2 H, Hb), 7.90 (“d”, 8 Hz, 2 H, H3), 7.76 (“dt”, 2 H, H4), 7.73 (s, 2 H, Hf), 7.57 (“d”, 8 Hz, 2H, H8), 7.43 (“d”, 2H, H6), 6.87 (“dt”, 2H, H5), 6.83 (“dd”, 2H, H9), 5.92 (s, 2H, H11), 2.12 (s, 6H, Hg), SC 2.07 (s, 6 H, H13). 13C {1H} NMR: δ= 167.9 (C2), 166.0 (Ce), 149.5 (C6), 149.1 (Ca), 148.2 (C12), 145.9 (Cd), 140.9 (C10), 140.8 (C7), 138.6 (C4), 132.5 (C11), 128.74 (Cf), 128.69 (Cc), AC C EP TE D M AN U 125.2 (C8), 124.4 (Cb), 124.0 (C9), 122.8 (C5), 119.9 (C3), 27.7 (Cg), 21.9 (C13). 5 ACCEPTED MANUSCRIPT 2.4. X-ray structural determinations Suitable single crystals of 1 and 2, respectively, were selected by means of a polarization microscope, mounted on the tip of a glass fiber, and investigated on a BRUKER D8 Quest diffractometer using Mo Kα radiation (λ = 0.71073 Å). The intensities were corrected for absorption by the semi-empirical multiscan method (SADABS) [15]. The structure RI PT was solved by direct methods (SIR 97) and refined by full-matrix least-squares calculations on F2 (SHELXL-97), as implemented in the software package WINGX.[16] Analysis by the program PLATON (also implemented in WINGX) showed large voids (33%) in the crystal of the Rh complex 1, which was handled by implementing the program subroutine SQUEEZE. SC Anisotropic displacement parameters were refined for all non-hydrogen atoms. Details of the crystal data, data collection, structure solution, and refinement parameters are summarized in ((Table 1)) 2.5. Photophysical Measurements. M AN U Table 1. UV-Vis absorption spectra were recorded with a Varian Cary 300 double beam spectrometer. Luminescence and excitation spectra were measured with a Horiba Jobin Yvon TE D Fluorolog 3 steady-state fluorescence spectrometer. For decay time measurements a PicoQuant LDH-P-C-375 pulsed diode laser (λexc = 372 nm, pulse width 100 ps) was applied as the excitation source. The emission signal was detected with a cooled photomultiplier attached to a FAST ComTec multichannel scalar card with a time resolution of 250 ps. EP Photoluminescence quantum yields were determined with a Hamamatsu C9920-02 system equipped with a Spectralon integrating sphere. Diluted solutions (c ≈ 10−5 M−1) in 2methyltetrahydrofuran (MTHF) were degassed by several freeze-pump-thaw cycles (p = AC C 1×10−5 mbar). Polymer films containing about 0.1 weight% of the Ir complex 2 were obtained by dissolving the emitter and poly(methyl methacrylate) (PMMA) in dichloromethane and spin-coating these solutions onto quartz glass substrates. PMMA films were measured under continuous flushing with nitrogen. 2.6. Computational Methodology. Molecular geometry of [It(ptpy)2(ddmp)]+ (2) was optimized using the density functional theory (DFT) with the hybrid gradient corrected correlation functional B3LYP [17]. Electronic excitations were calculated for the DFT optimized ground-state geometry using the time-dependent density functional theory (TD-DFT). Six lowest triplet and singlet excitations 6 ACCEPTED MANUSCRIPT were computed. The Ahlrichs split-valence basis set SVP [18] was applied for atoms C, H, N, and Cl and the quadruple-dzeta quality basis set QZVP [19] was used for Ir. Inner-core electrons of Ir were substituted with a relativistic effective core potential. [20] All computations were carried out using the Gaussian 09 program package. [21] RI PT 3. Results and discussion 3.1. Synthesis and characterization of compounds The cyclometalating ligand 2-(p-tolyl)pyridine (Hptpy) was used for the synthesis of the chloro-bridged dimers [{M(µ-Cl)(ptpy)2}2] (M = Rh, Ir) starting from the corresponding SC M(I) complexes [{M(µ-Cl)(coe)2}2] (coe = 1,4-cyclooctadiene) by an oxidative addition reaction as described previously [2b, 2e]. Subsequently, the preparation of the title complexes was realized by cleavage of the dimeric compounds to the cationic mononuclear complexes M AN U using the chelating ligand 4,7-dichloro-2,9-dimethyl-1,10-phenanthroline (ddmp). The reaction was carried out in a refluxing mixture of dichloromethane/methanol/water for 2 h. Thus, the complex salts [M(ptpy)2(ddmp)]Cl were formed. The salt metatheses with KPF6 yielded the hexafluorophosphate derivatives 1 and 2 (see Scheme). The complex salts 1 and 2 were obtained as yellow crystals in good yields and were characterized by elemental analyses, H and 13C NMR spectroscopy, and by single crystal X-ray diffraction studies. TE D 1 Due to strong overlap of the signals of the phenanthroline and the phenylpyridine moieties, both in the 1H- and 13C-NMR spectra, precise assignment of all the NMR signals to individual protons and carbon atoms in the aromatic region was not possible. The relative intensities of AC C ((scheme)) EP the methyl protons of the ptpy and dmpp ligands being 6:6 prove the proposed stoichiometry. 3.2. Crystal and molecular structure of 1 and 2 Crystals suitable for an X-ray diffraction study were grown from CH2Cl2/CHCl3/hexane solutions. Crystals of 1 and 2, respectively, belong to the triclinic space group P 1̄. The Rh compound 1 contains two independent molecules in the unit cell. As mentioned above, the analysis by the program PLATON showed large voids in the crystal of 1 which make up 33% of the unit cell volume. Since no solvent molecules could be localized, the program routine SQUEEZE was applied for simulating the missing electron density. This led to acceptable R1 values of ca. 6%, but left a high wR2 value of ca. 19%. The major difference 7 ACCEPTED MANUSCRIPT between the two independent molecules is found in the relative orientations of the three chelate rings: while the interplanar angles between the phenanthroline chelate and the two cyclometallates are 85±1° at Rh1, they are 80.6±0.8° at Rh2. The Rh-N(tpy) bond lengths are identical within 2σ, averaging at 2.042(4) Å. The same applies for the Rh-C(tpy) bonds (average 1.994(5) Å). The Rh-N(phen) bonds are longer at Rh1 (average 2.246(4) Å) than at RI PT Rh2 (average 2.225(5) Å), which reflects also the difference in the interplanar angles mentioned above. The N-M-C chelate angles range from 80.5(2)° to 81.6(2)°, while the N-M-N angle is identical on both Rh atoms within 1σ, averaging at 75.4(1)°. In the related bipyridine complex [Rh(thpy)2(bpy)]Cl bond lengths of 2.060 Å, 1.989 Å and 2.144 Å are SC found for Rh-N(thpy), Rh-C(thpy) and Rh-N(bpy), respectively[10c]. The chelate angle NRh-N is reported as 76.7(1)°. M AN U ((figure 1)) The Ir complex 2 (figure 1) crystallizes with two molecules of chloroform which could be localized without any problems. The Ir-N(tpy) bond lengths are identical within 2σ, averaging at 2.047(5) Å, which is only slightly longer than in the Rh compound. The Ir-C(tpy) TE D and Ir-N(ddmp) bond lengths are identical within 1σ, averaging at 2.013(6) and 2.200(5) Å, respectively. Interestingly, the former bond is longer than in complex 1, while the latter is shorter. The N-M-C chelate angles average at 80.6(2)° within 1σ, slightly smaller than in the Rh case, while the N-M-N chelate angle is with 75.9(2)° slightly larger than the Rh analog. EP The interplanar angles between the three chelate planes are identical within 2σ, averaging at 80.3(2)°. In both compounds the cyclometalated rings are close to ideally planar, while the phenanthroline chelate rings are better described as non-planar “envelopes”. In the related AC C complex [Ir(ppy)2(dmdpbpy)][PF6] (dmdpbpy = 6,6'-dimethyl-4,4'-diphenyl- bipyridine) bond lengths of ca. 2.04 Å, 2.01 Å and 2.21 Å are found for Ir-N(ppy), Ir-C(ppy) and IrN(dmdpbpy), respectively [2b] It was stated that the “ortho” methyl substituents, i.e. methyl groups in the positions 6 and 6’ of 2,2’-bipyridine and in the positions 2 and 9 of phenanthroline, lead to lengthening of the Ir-N(bpy) bonds as compared to the unsubstituted bpy complex. Also in the closely related complex [Ir(ppy)2(phen)][PF6] the Ir-N(ppy), IrC(ppy) and Ir-N(phen) bond lengths of 2.05 Å, 2.01 Å and 2.14 Å were found, respectively. The latter Ir-N(phen) bonds are significantly shorter than the Ir-N(ddmp) distances of 2.200(5) Å in compound 2. The bite angles at the cyclometallated ptpy and phenanthroline 8 ACCEPTED MANUSCRIPT moieties were reported as ca. 80° and 78°, respectively. [2a] Bulky substituents in more remote positions seemingly have no influence on the Ir-N(phen) bond lengths. [22] RI PT 3.3. Photophysical properties of 1 and 2 Luminescent transition metal (TM) complexes have become recognized as valuable luminophores for application in biological cell imaging studies. The accumulation of such bio-imaging agents in particular cell compartments can be monitored through confocal SC luminescence spectroscopy.[23-27] Phosphorescence stemming from the triplet excited state of a TM complex is distinctly red-shifted relative to the lowest absorption band which arises from a transition between the singlet ground state and the lowest singlet excited state. Thus, it M AN U can be easily distinguished from the autogenous cell fluorescence (mostly in the blue spectral region), which is characterized by relatively small Stokes’ shifts, by wavelength filtering. Moreover, the relatively long decay times of the TM-complex phosphorescence (microseconds) differ from the short decay times (nanoseconds) of autogenous fluorescence by 2 to 4 orders of magnitude. Thus, the emission of a phosphorescent probe can be TE D distinguished from the autofluorescence by the time-gated detection methods.[23] For these reasons we decided to investigate the photophysical properties of the Ir complex 2. The UV-Vis absorption spectra of 1 and 2 were studied in dichloromethane solution (c = 0.05 mM) at room temperature. The high-energy part of the spectra (λ ≤ 300 nm) is EP dominated by spin-allowed π → π* transitions of the ptpy and ddmp ligands. These overlapping ligand-centered transitions give rise to intense absorption bands peaking at λmax = AC C 272 nm (εmax = 1.8 ×104 M−1cm−1) for 1 and 274 nm (εmax = 5.0 ×104 M−1cm−1) for 2 (Fig. 1), respectively. In the lower energy region, between ca. 300 and 390 nm for complex 1 and between 300 and 430 nm for 2, a series of weaker absorption bands (ε ≈ 3 −8 ×103 M−1cm−1) with much weaker tails (ε < 1000 M−1cm−1) stretching at 390 − 450 nm (compound 1) and 430 − 520 nm (compound 2), respectively, is observed. The red tail of the absorption spectrum of 2 matches with the lowest-energy signals observed in the excitation spectrum recorded for this compound in a glassy solution at 77 K (Fig. 2). Since such absorptions are not present in the spectra of the free ligands ptpyH and ddmp, the long-wavelength absorption bands of the complexes are assigned to metal-to-ligand charge-transfer (MLCT) transitions involving the occupied dπ orbitals of the metals (2dπ(Rh) and 3dπ(Ir) in 1 and 2, respectively) and empty π* orbitals of the ptpy and ddmp ligands, respectively. Similar arguments for the 9 ACCEPTED MANUSCRIPT assignment of the low-energy absorption bands of related TM-compounds can be found in numerous studies in the literature.[1c,28,29] The above assignments are further supported by results of the TD-DFT calculations described below. ((figure 2)) RI PT The Ir complex 2 is strongly luminescent at ambient temperature. For instance, [Ir(ptpy)2(ddmp)][PF6] (2) doped into PMMA displays yellow luminescence with the maximum at λmax = 562 nm. The emission band is broad and unstructured (Fig. 3). The quantum yield φPL amounts to 54 % and the decay time τem is 1.9 µs. Similar τem values in SC order of a few microseconds are frequently found for phosphorescent Ir(III) complexes. [1c, 28,29] Accordingly, the emission of 2 is assigned to the lowest triplet state T1. Results of the TD-DFT computations point to the T1 excited state being 3MLCT in character with dominant M AN U contributions from the ddmp ligand. (See below.) ((figure 3)) The emission properties of 2 are modulated by the matrix/solvent used. Thus, solutions of [Ir(ptpy)2(ddmp)][PF6] (2) in organic solvents show moderately intense orange emission. TE D For instance, in 2-methyltetrahydrofuran (MTHF) the luminescence band is centered at λmax = 612 nm. The quantum yield of this emission is 17 % and decay time τem = 0.56 µs (Table 3). According to the long excited-state lifetime and large diffusion rates in solution the photoluminescence of 2 is quenched by molecular oxygen. Thus, in air saturated solution the EP quantum yield decreases to 3.5 % and the decay time of τem = 140 ns is 4 times shorter than in the degassed solution. (Table 2) Nevertheless, the O2-quenching is not complete and the AC C luminescence of 2 remains reasonably strong for detection under aerobic conditions. The observed red-shift of the emission band of 2 from λmax = 526 nm in frozen MTHF at 77 K to 552 nm in PMMA at room temperature and λmax = 612 nm in the MTHF solution is conform to the distinct charge-transfer character of the lowest excited state T1 (3MLCT). Thus, electrostatic interactions of the 3MLCT-excited molecule with the induced dipole moments in its close surrounding result in an additional stabilization of the excited state and thus, to a lower energy of the emission. [30] The smaller separation between the emitting state T1 and the ground state S0 in solution, as compared to the PMMA matrix or the frozen MTHF glass at 77 K, leads to a stronger vibrational coupling between the T1 and S0 electronic states. As a result, according to the so-called energy gap law,[31] the non-radiative relaxation of the 10 ACCEPTED MANUSCRIPT T1 excited state to the electronic ground state S0 is more effective, which manifests itself by the distinctly lower φPL and τem values in solution. ((Table 2)) 3.4. Theoretical calculations RI PT The B3LYP/[SVP+QZVP(ECP)] DFT calculations were carried out on the [Ir(ptpy)2(ddmp)]+ ion (2) in order to elucidate the character of the lowest excited states and to ascertain the role of the particular ligands, ptpy and ddmp, respectively, for the excited-state properties of the complex. The HOMO and LUMO surfaces are illustrated in Fig. 4 and the SC characters of other spectroscopically relevant molecular orbitals are analysed in Table 3. The HOMO consists principally from a mixture of Ir-dx2-y2 and phenyl-π orbitals, whereas LUMO (π*) is mainly localized on the ddmp ligand. Orbitals HOMO – 1 to HOMO – 3 contain M AN U dominant contributions from the phenyl fragments of the ptpy ligands and HOMO – 4 and HOMO – 5 represent essentially two 3d(Ir) orbitals. LUMO + 1 is mainly centred on ddmp and LUMO +2 and LUMO +3 are combined from dominant contributions from the pyridine rings of the both ptpy ligands. TE D ((Figure 4)) ((Table 3)) The lowest electronic transitions, S0 → T1 and S0 → S1, respectively, are identified as EP MLCT transitions, which originate mainly (98 %) in HOMO → LUMO excitations carrying distinct 3dx2-y2(Ir)-π*(ddmp) character. The lowest singlet transition at 2.18 eV with the calculated oscillator strength f of only 0.0001 carries only very little intensity.[32] It AC C contributes to the weak red tail of the absorption spectrum. On the other hand, the S0 → S2 transition at 2.47 eV, which stems mainly from the HOMO → LUMO + 1 excitation (polarized along the C2 axis of symmetry, which intersects the Ir atom and the centre of the ddmp ligand) is distinctly more intense (f = 0.0025) and, thus, it contributes strongly to the low-energy part of the absorption spectrum. A similar situation is frequently found in TM−diimine complexes, e.g. Re(CO)3(bpy)Cl,[33] where the S0 → S1 transition is very weak and cannot be spectrally resolved from the stronger S0 → S2 MLCT transition. 3.5. Biological activity. 11 ACCEPTED MANUSCRIPT Ir(III) and Rh(III) complexes have recently gained considerable attention as anti-cancer agents.[3c, 6b] To obtain an insight into the anti-tumor activity of compounds 1 and 2, their in vitro toxicity towards the cancer cell lines HT29 (human colon carcinoma) and MCF-7 (human breast carcinoma) has been investigated (Table 4). The cytotoxicity was evaluated using the MTT assay, which measures the mitochondrial metabolism in the entire cell. For the RI PT well-established clinical drug cisplatin, IC50 values (half maximal inhibitory concentration) of 7.0 ± 2.0 µM for HT-29 and 2.0 ± 0.3 µM for MCF-7, respectively, were obtained.[34] SC ((Table 4)) Compared to cisplatin, the investigated compounds show significantly higher cytotoxicity towards the cancer cell lines under study. These strong cytotoxic effects are reflected by M AN U relatively low IC50 values which are in the high nanomolar range. For a comparison, in a recent publication by Lo et al., IC50 of approximately 4 µM were reported for cyclometallated Ir compounds with dialkyl-amino substituted phenanthroline ligands [5c]. In general, the MCF-7 cells are more sensitive to the treatment than the HT-29 cells. Interestingly, the Ir(III) complex shows higher cytotoxicity towards both cell lines compared TE D to its Rh(III) analogue. The opposite was reported in a previous work, [11] in which several Rh(III) and Ir(III) complexes were assayed for their cytotoxic activity. Containing the same ligand system, the Rh(III) complexes showed higher cytotoxicity than the Ir(III) analogues. This leads to the assumption that the cytotoxicity is not exclusively related to the metal center AC C EP but also depends on the specific ligands present in a given complex type. 12 ACCEPTED MANUSCRIPT 4. Conclusions The synthesis of two cationic bis-cyclometalated complexes [M(ptpy)2(ddmp)][PF6] (M = Rh, 1; M = Ir, 2; ptpy = 2-(p-tolyl)pyridinato, ddmp = 4,7-dichloro-2,9-dimethyl-1,10phenanthroline) is described. These new metallorganic compounds were prepared in good yields by the bridge-splitting reaction between the dinuclear complexes [{M(µ-Cl)(ptpy)2}2] RI PT and the chelating diimine ligand ddmp. The X-ray diffraction studies revealed the cationic molecules of 1 and 2 as mononuclear M(III) complexes and, thus, confirmed the molecular structures of 1 and 2 inferred from the results of the elemental analyses and the spectroscopic NMR and MS investigations. SC The iridium complex 2 is strongly luminescent as powder, polymer film, and in solution at ambient temperature. In PMMA it exhibits intense yellow emission centered at λmax = 562 nm (φPL = 54%). In MTHF solution, this compound displays orange emission at λmax = 612 M AN U nm, which is partly quenched by oxygen in non-degased samples. Nevertheless, even in aerated samples, the emission is reasonably strong (φPL = 3.5 % and τem = 140 ns) for a non complicated detection. The photophysical characterisations, supported by the results of the quantum mechanical computations, lead to the assignment of the observed luminescnce as stemming from the lowest triplet state T1, which is mainly 3MLCT (d(Ir)-π*(ddmp)) in TE D character. Both compounds under study are capable of penetrating living mammalian cells. In the human colon carcinoma HT-29 and the breast cancer MCF-7 cell lines strong cytotoxicity induced by 1 and 2 were observed. The half maximal inhibitory concentrations (IC50) found EP for the both compounds are in the high nanomolar range (200 nM – 1000 nM). The cytotoxic effects of the iridium complex 2 slightly exceeded that of the rhodium congener 1, i.e. the IC50 AC C values for 2 were approximately three times smaller than that determined for 1. Remarkably, the IC50 values of 2 are about one order of magnitude smaller than IC50 exhibited by the anticancer drug cisplatin under similar conditions against the same cell cultures. Summing up, the rhodium and iridium complexes reported here are important for future biological/medicinal investigations making use of the luminescence and cytotoxic properties of these materials. 13 ACCEPTED MANUSCRIPT Acknowledgments The authors are grateful to the Department of Chemistry of the Ludwig Maximilians University Munich for support. P. Mayer is acknowledged for collecting the X-ray crystal data data and Prof. Hartmut Yersin (University Regensburg) for inspiring discussions. R.C. thanks the German Federal Ministry of Education and Research (BMBF) for financial RI PT support. Supplementary material CCDC-975514 (1) and CCDC-975515 (2) contain the supplementary crystallographic SC data for this paper. These data can be obtained free of charge from The Cambridge AC C EP TE D M AN U Crystallographic Data Centre via http://www.ccdc.cam.ac.uk/data_request/cif. 14 ACCEPTED MANUSCRIPT Figure Captions: Figure 1: Molecular structure of the cation of 2. Thermal ellipsoids at the 30% probability level. Figure 2. UV-Vis absorption spectrum of [Ir(ptpy)2(ddmp)][PF6] (2) in CH2Cl2 (c = 0.05 mM) at room temperature (solid line) and 77 K excitation spectrum of 2 recorded in frozen RI PT MTHF (= 2-methyltetrahydrofuran) solution (dotted line), λdet = 540 nm. Figure 3. Luminescence spectra of [Ir(ptpy)2(ddmp)][PF6] recorded in poly(methyl methacrylate) (PMMA, c = 1 weight%) and 2-methyltetrahydrofuran (MTHF, c = 1 × 10−5 M−1) at ambient temperature. λexc = 400 nm. AC C EP TE D M AN U SC Figure 4. Frontier orbitals of [Ir(ptpy)2(ddmp)]+ (2). 15 ACCEPTED MANUSCRIPT References [1] (a) C.-H. Lin, Y.-C. Chiu, Y. Chi, Y.-T. Tao, L.-S. Liao, M.-R. Tseng, G.-H. Lee, Organometallics 31 (2012) 4349 and references therein; (b) S.-K. Leung, K.Y. Kwok, K.Y. Zhang, K. K.-W. Lo, Inorg. Chem. 49 (2010) 4984 RI PT and references therein. (c) H. Yersin, A. F. Rausch, R. Czerwieniec, T. Hofbeck, T. Fischer, Coord. Chem. 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[32] The lowest-energy electronic transitions in [Ir(ptpy)2(ddmp)]+ (molecular symmetry TE D group C2) are associated with promotion of an electron from Ir onto the ddmp ligand along the C2 symmetry axis (= x-axis of coordinates). Thus, they result in a significant EP change of the molecular dipole moment along this axis. In such a situation, the transition r matrix element f1 erx f 2 , where f1 and f3 are the molecular wavefunctions of the initial and the final quantum states, is intuitively expected to be significantly larger than the r r r r transition matrix elements f1 ery f 2 and f1 erz f 2 orthogonal to the C2 axis. ( erx , e ry , AC C r erz are the molecular dipole moment components.) HOMO of [Ir(ptpy)2(ddmp)]+ carries distinct Ir-dx2-y2 character and belongs to the symmetry type a. LUMO is a b type ddmpπ* orbital and LUMO + 1 is an a type ddmp-π* orbital, respectively. In the C2 point r group, f1 erx f 2 elements involving f1 and f3 spanning different irreducible representations are equal zero. Therefore the HOMO → LUMO transition described by r the matrix element a erx b = 0 is expected to carry only very little intensity. On the r contrary, the HOMO → LUMO + 1 transition ( a erx a ≠ 0) is expected to be more intense. Indeed, the oscillator strengths calculated for the HOMO → LUMO and HOMO → LUMO + 1 excitations are f = 0.0001 and f = 0.0025, respectively. 19 ACCEPTED MANUSCRIPT [33] A. Caniizzo, A. M. Blanco-Rodríguez, A. E. Nahhas, J. Šebera, S. Záliš, A. Vlček Jr., M. Chergui, J. Am. Chem. Soc. 130 (2008) 8967. [34] M. Harlos, I. Ott, R. Gust, H. Alborzinia, S. Wolfl, A. Kromm and W. S. Sheldrick, J. AC C EP TE D M AN U SC RI PT Med. Chem. 51 (2008) 3924 ACCEPTED MANUSCRIPT Table 1: Experimental Data of the Structure determinations Compound 1 2 C38H30Cl2F6N4PRh C38H30Cl2F6IrN4P × 2CHCl3 Formula weight 861.44 1189.47 Temperature K 200(2) 200(2) Crystal system Triclinic Triclinic Space group P -1 P -1 a [Å] 13.714(7) 10.494(5) b [Å] 17.332(9) 13.560(6) c [Å] 22.395(12) 16.705(8) α 106.308(16)°. 71.398(5)°. β 99.64(3)°. 81.95(2)°. 107.499(17)°. γ = 77.448(18)°. 3 Volume [Å ] 4684(4) Z 2*2 3 Density (calculated) [Mg/m ] 1.222 -1 Absorption coefficient [mm ] 0.564 F(000) 1736 M AN U γ SC Unit cell dimensions RI PT Empirical formula 2195.0(15) 2 1.802 3.630 1164 Crystal size [mm ] 0.215 × 0.102 × 0.062 0.186 × 0.053 × 0.04 Theta range for data collection 2.43 to 25.36°. 2.32 to 25.76°. -16≤h≤16, -20≤k≤20, -26≤l≤26 -12≤h≤12, -16≤k≤16, -20≤l≤20 85022 39640 17146 [ 0.0497] 8338 [0.0731] 98.5 % 99.0 % TE D 3 Index ranges Reflections collected Completeness Absorption correction EP Independent reflections [Rint] Semi-empirical from equivalents 0.6462 and 0.5878 0.4291 and 0.3523 Data / parameters 17146/ 945 8338 / 545 Goodness-of-fit on F2 0.803 1.037 Final R indices [I>2sigma(I)] R1 = 0.0571, wR2 = 0.1875 R1 = 0.0415, wR2 = 0.0855 R1 = 0.0771, wR2 = 0.2034 R1 = 0.0669, wR2 = 0.0950 2.232 and -0.887 1.204 and -1.282 AC C Max. and min. transmission R indices (all data) -3 Largest diff. peak and hole [e.A ] ACCEPTED MANUSCRIPT Table 2. Luminescence properties of [Ir(ptpy)2(ddmp)][PF6] (2). Emission maximum λmax Quantum yield φPL Decay time τem MTHF [300 K], O2-free a 612 nm 17 % 560 nm MTHF [300 K], air saturated 612 nm 3.5 % 140 ns MTHF [77 K] 526 nm b PMMA [300 K] c 562 nm RI PT Solvent [Temperature] 7.2 µs 54 % 1.9 µs AC C EP TE D M AN U SC a) The sample was degassed under vacuum by several freeze-pump-thaw cycles; p = 10−5 mbar. b) The spectrum measured at 77 K is structured with a distinctly resolved shoulder at 560 nm. c) Measured under N2. ACCEPTED MANUSCRIPT Table 3. Percent contributions from the Ir atom, ddmp, and ptpy ligands to the highest occupied orbitals (lying within 1 eV below the HOMO energy) and the lowest virtual orbitals (lying within 1 eV above the LUMO energy) of [Ir(ptpy)2(ddmp)]+ (2). The Mulliken population analysis was performed for the ground-state Kohn-Sham orbitals resulting from the B3LYP/[SVP+QZVP(ECP)] DFT calculations. Energy (eV) Ir (%) ptpy1 (%) ptpy2 (%) ddmp (%) HOMO – 5 -8.956 66 14 15 6 HOMO – 4 -8.877 59 10 11 21 HOMO – 3 -8.816 1 43 44 11 HOMO – 2 -8.693 11 41 42 6 HOMO – 1 -8.373 1 47 47 5 HOMO -7.894 29 34 34 3 LUMO -5.164 3 1 11 85 LUMO + 1 -4.916 1 1 4 95 LUMO + 2 -4.272 5 46 46 3 LUMO + 3 -4.188 5 47 47 1 SC M AN U TE D EP AC C RI PT Orbital ACCEPTED MANUSCRIPT Table 4: Cytotoxicity data Cell line IC50/µM [Rh(ptpy)2(dmpp)](PF6) (1) HT-29 0.5 ± 0.1 MCF-7 1.0 ± 0.3 HT-29 0.2 ± 0.1 MCF-7 0.3 ± 0.1 AC C EP TE D M AN U SC [Ir(ptpy)2(dmpp)](PF6) (2) RI PT Compound ACCEPTED MANUSCRIPT Cl11 C109 RI PT C104 C103 C110 C105 C108 C106 C102 C132 SC Cl12 C136 C107 N101 N104 N102 C112 TE D C120 C124 C126 EP N103 AC C C114 C138 Ir1 C113 C137 M AN U C111 C125 C139 C140 C143 C127 C131 AC C EP TE D M AN U SC RI PT ACCEPTED MANUSCRIPT AC C EP TE D M AN U SC RI PT ACCEPTED MANUSCRIPT AC C EP TE D M AN U SC RI PT ACCEPTED MANUSCRIPT AC C EP TE D M AN U SC RI PT ACCEPTED MANUSCRIPT AC C EP TE D M AN U SC RI PT ACCEPTED MANUSCRIPT ACCEPTED MANUSCRIPT HIGHLIGHTS • new cyclometalated complexes [M(ptpy)2(ddmp)]PF6 (M = Rh, 1; Ir, 2) were prepared • both molecular structures were confirmed by single-crystal X-ray diffraction. • 2 phosphoresces yellow in a polymer matrix and in solution at ambient temperature. AC C EP TE D M AN U SC RI PT • 1 and 2 show significant cytotoxicity against human cancer cell lines.