TY - JOUR A1 - Otto, S. A1 - Grabolle, Markus A1 - Förster, C. A1 - Kreitner, C. A1 - Resch-Genger, Ute A1 - Heinze, K. T1 - [Cr(ddpd)2]3+: A molecular, water-soluble, highly NIR-emissive ruby analogue JF - Angewandte Chemie / International Edition N2 - Bright, long-lived emission from first-row transition-metal complexes is very challenging to achieve. Herein, we present a new strategy relying on the rational tuning of energy levels. With the aid of the large N-Cr-N bite angle of the tridentate ligand ddpd (N,N′-dimethyl-N,N′-dipyridine-2-ylpyridine-2,6-diamine) and its strong σ-donating capabilities, a very large ligand-field splitting could be introduced in the chromium(III) complex [Cr(ddpd)2]3+, that shifts the deactivating and photoreactive 4T2 state well above the emitting 2E state. Prevention of back-intersystem crossing from the 2E to the 4T2 state enables exceptionally high near-infrared phosphorescence quantum yields and lifetimes for this 3d metal complex. The complex [Cr(ddpd)2](BF4)3 is highly water-soluble and very stable towards thermal and photo-induced substitution reactions and can be used for fluorescence intensity- and lifetime-based oxygen sensing in the NIR. KW - Chromium complexes KW - Intersystem crossing KW - Ligand-field splitting KW - NIR luminescence KW - Photophysics PY - 2015 DO - https://doi.org/10.1002/anie.201504894 SN - 1433-7851 SN - 1521-3773 SN - 0570-0833 VL - 54 IS - 39 SP - 11572 EP - 11576 PB - Wiley-VCH CY - Weinheim AN - OPUS4-35084 LA - eng AD - Bundesanstalt fuer Materialforschung und -pruefung (BAM), Berlin, Germany ER -