Cuprophilic interactions in highly luminescent dicopper()-NHC-picolyl complexes - fast phosphorescence or TADF?

This case study on a series of monomeric, dimeric and polymeric Cu I chlorido NHC-picolyl complexes shows that cuprophilic interactions can ensure strong spin-orbit coupling for fast (reverse)intersystem-crossing T 1 ↔ S 1 and T 1 → S 0 , and therefore can serve as a design motif for the construction of highly efficient Cu I -based TADF or T 1 emitters. Cuprophilic interactions can greatly enhance the radiative rate constants via either exceptionally fast phosphorescence or TADF, and thus present a design motif for highly efficient Cu I -based emitters.