2016 Volume 67 Pages 62-74
In this review, we overview the recent research trends on the photophysical properties and its application of metal complexes having arylborane charge transfer unit(s). The vacant p-orbital on the boron atom (p(B)) in a triarylborane derivative plays important roles in determining the electronic structure and the photophysical properties of the derivative. Recent studies on the spectroscopic and excited-state properties of arylborane compounds indicated that the characteristic absorption and emission bands were ascribed essentially to the charge transfer (CT) transition between the p-orbital of the aryl group (p(aryl)) and p(B) : p(aryl)-p(B) CT. By utilizing such characteristics of triarylborane derivatives, new and novel approaches toward tuning of the redox, spectroscopic, and excited-state properties of metal complexes have been explored through combining the p(aryl)-p(B) CT interaction in a triarylborane derivative with the metal-to-ligand charge transfer (MLCT), intramolecular charge transfer (ILCT) state and electron or energy transfer of a metal complex.
