Platinum Trimethyl Bipyridyl Thiolates--new, Tunable, Red- to Near IR Emitting Luminophores for Bioimaging Applications

Synthetic, spectroscopic, computational and biological imaging studies of platinum trimethyl bipyridyl thiolate complexes of the general formula [PtMe3(bpy)SR] reveal these to be easily accessed, tunable bioimaging agents which feature an unusual σ-π* Inter-Ligand Charge Transfer (ILCT) transition, and in some cases emit into the Near infra-red (NIR).