A stable and true-blue emissive hexacoordinate Si(IV) N-heterocyclic carbene complex and its use in organic light-emitting diodes.

A neutral hexacoordinate Si(IV) complex containing two tridentate N-heterocyclic carbene ligands is synthesised and characterized by X-ray crystallography, optical spectroscopy, electrochemistry and computational methods. The stable compound exhibits remarkable deep-blue photoluminescence particularly in the solid state, which enables its use as an electroluminescent material in organic light-emitting diodes.