Ultrafast Dynamics of the Metal-to-Ligand Charge Transfer Excited States of Ir(III) Proteo and Deutero Dihydrides.

For decades, transition metal hydrides have been at the forefront of numerous photocatalytic reactions leveraging either photoacid or photohydride generation. Of upmost importance is the nature of the M-H bond itself, which is typically the major site of photochemical reactivity, particularly in Ir(III) hydrides featuring metal-to-ligand charge transfer (MLCT) excited states. As a departure point for understanding the fundamental spectroscopy and photophysics of the MLCT excited states of Ir(III) diimine hydrides, cis-[Ir(bpy)H] (bpy = 2,2'-bipyridine) and its deuterated analogue cis-[Ir(bpy)D] were prepared and investigated. The robust nature of these molecules enabled detailed solution-based photophysical studies using ultrafast transient absorption and infrared spectroscopy, executed without the generation of permanent photoproducts. Static Fourier transform infrared and Raman spectra (λ = 785 nm) of these two molecules revealed weak but measurable Ir-H and Ir-D stretching vibrations centered at 2120 and 1510 cm, respectively. Short-lived (τ = 25 ps) MLCT excited states were observed for both cis-[Ir(bpy)H] and cis-[Ir(bpy)D] following femtosecond pulsed laser excitation at 480 nm in visible and near-IR transient absorption experiments. A similar time constant was measured for the in-phase and out-of-phase Ir-H stretching modes of the triplet excited state between 1900 and 2200 cm using transient IR spectroscopy. The Ir-D stretching modes in the MLCT excited state were masked by bpy-localized vibrations rendering quantitative evaluation of these modes difficult. The time-resolved infrared data were consistent with density functional theory calculated mid-IR difference spectra in both of these molecules, yielding quantitative matches to the measured IR difference spectra. The information presented here provides valuable insight for understanding the primary photophysical events and transient absorption and IR spectroscopic signatures likely to be encountered throughout metal hydride photochemistry.