Recent advances in chromium coordination chemistry: Luminescent materials and photocatalysis

With the design and development of sustainable photofunctional materials based upon Earth-abundant elements being of growing interest, coordination complexes of Cr(iii), with their fascinating and long appreciated photophysical and photochemical properties, have returned to prominence. This review charts the most recent developments towards new photoluminescent complexes of Cr(iii), discussing not only the synthetic strategies giving access to increasingly more complicated molecular architectures but also highlighting how an improved photophysical understanding of the electronic excited state underpins the design of impressively efficient Cr(iii)-based phosphors. This article concludes with a survey of the first applications of Cr(iii) complexes within visible light-driven catalysis.