Electroluminescent Materials and Devices

1 .- 47 . (canceled)

48 . An electroluminescent composition which comprises a mixture of a substituted or unsubstituted metal quinolate and an electroluminescent organometallic complex.

49 . The composition of claim 48 , wherein the metal quinolate is doped with a minor amount of the organometallic complex as a dopant.

50 . The composition of claim 48 , wherein the organometallic complex and the metal quinolate each have a HOMO-LUMO gap, and further wherein the HOMO-LUMO gap of the organometallic complex is within the HOMO-LUMO gap of the metal quinolate.

51 . The composition of claim 48 , wherein the metal quinolate comprises substituted or unsubstituted lithium quinolate.

52 . The composition of claim 48 , wherein the metal quinolate is lithium quinolate prepared by the reaction of n-butyl lithium with 8-hydroxy quinoline in a solvent comprising acetonitrile.

53 . The composition of claim 48 , wherein the organometallic complex is a ruthenium, rhodium, palladium, osmium, iridium or platinum complex.

54 . The composition of claim 48 , wherein the electroluminescent organometallic complex is selected from the group consisting of:

(a) a complex having a general chemical formula selected from one of the following:

wherein:

M is ruthenium, rhodium, palladium, osmium, iridium or platinum;

n is 1 or 2;

R 1 -R 5 , which may be the same or different, are independently selected from substituted and unsubstituted hydrocarbyl groups, substituted and unsubstituted monocyclic and polycyclic heterocyclic groups, substituted and unsubstituted hydrocarbyloxy or carboxy groups, fluorocarbyl groups, halogen, nitrile, nitro, amino, alkylamino, dialkylamino, arylamino, diarylamino, N-alkylamido, N-arylamido, sulfonyl and thiophenyl, and further wherein and R 2 and R 3 can additionally be alkylsilyl or arylsilyl;

p, s and t independently are 0, 1, 2 or 3; subject to the proviso that, where any of p, s and t is 2 or 3, only one of them can be other than saturated hydrocarbyl or halogen;

q and r independently are 0, 1 or 2; subject to the proviso that when q or r is 2, only one of them can be other than saturated hydrocarbyl or halogen;

(b) a complex having the general chemical formula M(L) n or MO(L) n-2 , where M is a metal in a valence state n of greater than 3 and L is an organic ligand, the ligands L being the same or different;

(c) a complex having the general chemical formula

where Lα and Lp are organic ligands which may be the same or different; M is a rare earth element, transition metal, lanthanide group element or actinide group element; and n is the valence state of the metal M;

(d) a complex having the general chemical formula (Lα) n M 1 M 2 , where M 1 is the same as M above, M 2 is a non rare earth metal, Lα is an organic ligand, and n is the combined valence state of M 1 and M 2 ;

(e) a binuclear, trinuclear or polynuclear organometallic complex having the general chemical formula (Lm) x M 1 ←M 2 (Ln) wherein L is a bridging ligand, M 1 is a rare earth metal, M 2 is the same as M 1 or a non rare earth metal, Lm and Ln are the same or different organic ligands, Lα is an organic ligand, x is the valence state of M 1 , and y is the valence state of M 2 ;

(f) a material selected from the group consisting of Al(DBM) 3 , Zn(DBM) 2 , Mg(DBM) 2 , and Sc(DBM) 3 , where (DBM) is tris-(1,3-diphenyl-1-3-propanedione);

(g) a metal complex having the general chemical formula:

where:

M is a metal other than a rare earth element, a transition metal, a lanthanide group element or an actinide group element;

n is the valence of M;

R 1 , R 2 and R 3 , which may be the same or different, are independently selected from the group consisting of hydrogen; hydrocarbyl groups; substituted and unsubstituted aliphatic groups; substituted and unsubstituted aromatic, heterocyclic and polycyclic ring structures; fluorocarbons; halogens; thiophenyl groups; and nitrile; further wherein R 1 and R 3 can also form ring structures, and R 1 , R 2 and R 3 can be copolymerisable with a monomer;

(h) a diiridium compound having the general chemical formula

where:

R 1 , R 2 , R 3 and R 4 , which may be the same or different, are independently selected from the group consisting of hydrogen and substituted and unsubstituted hydrocarbyl groups; and R 1 , R 2 , R 3 and R 4 can also form substituted and unsubstituted fused aromatic, heterocyclic and polycyclic ring structures, and can be copolymerisable with a monomer, and

L 1 and L 2 may be the same or different organic ligands;

(i) a compound having the general chemical formula

where:

Ph is an unsubstituted or substituted phenyl group where the substituents can be the same or different and are selected from hydrogen, and substituted and unsubstituted hydrocarbyl groups; and,

R, R 1 and R 2 are selected independently from the group, consisting of hydrogen, substituted or unsubstituted hydrocarbyl groups, fluorine, fluorocarbons, halogen, thiophenyl and nitrile; and,

(j) a metal quinolate having the general chemical formula Mq n , where M is a metal other than that of the quinolate host, n is the valence of the metal M, and q is a substituted or unsubstituted quinolate ion.

55 . An electroluminescent device comprising: (i) a first electrode, (ii) a second electrode, and (iii) a layer of an electroluminescent composition as claimed in claim 48 located between the first and second electrodes.

56 . An electroluminescent device according to claim 55 characterized by at least one of the following features:

(a) a layer of a hole transmitting material is located between the first electrode and the layer of the electroluminescent composition;

(b) a layer of a hole transmitting material is located between the first electrode and the layer of the electroluminescent composition wherein the hole transmitting material is a polyaromatic amine complex or a polymer film;

(c) one of said first and second electrodes is a cathode, and a layer of an electron transmitting material is located between the cathode and the layer of the electroluminescent composition;

(d) one of said first and second electrodes is a cathode, and a layer of an electron transmitting material is located between the cathode and the layer of the electroluminescent composition wherein the electron transmitting material is selected from the group consisting of:

aluminum quinolate, zirconium quinolate and lithium quinolate;

a material having the general chemical formula Mx(DBM) n , where Mx is a metal, DBM is dibenzoyl methane, and n is the valency of Mx; and,

a cyanoanthracene.

57 . An electroluminescent device according to claim 55 , characterized by at least one of the following features:

one of said first and second electrodes is a transparent electrically conducting glass electrode;

one of said first and second electrodes comprises a material selected from the group consisting of aluminum, barium, rare earth metals, transition metals, calcium, lithium, magnesium and alloys thereof, and silver/magnesium alloys;

one of said first and second electrodes comprises a material selected from a metal having a metal fluoride layer formed on a surface thereof; and

one of said first and second electrodes comprises a material selected from a metal having a metal fluoride layer formed on a surface thereof wherein the metal fluoride is a lithium fluoride or a rare earth fluoride.