Interest in iridium and platinum has been steadily encouraged due to such unique properties as exceptional chemical inertia and corrosion resistance, high biological compatibility, and mechanical strength, which are the basis for their application in medical practice. Metal-organic chemical vapor deposition (MOCVD) is a promising method to fabricate Ir and Pt nanomaterials, multilayers, and heterostructures. Its advantages include precise control of the material composition and microstructure in deposition processes at relatively low temperatures onto non-planar substrates. The development of MOCVD processes is inextricably linked with the development of the chemistry of volatile precursors, viz., specially designed coordination and organometallic compounds. This review describes the synthesis methods of various iridium and platinum precursors, their thermal properties, and examples of the use of MOCVD, including formation of films for medical application and bimetallics. Although metal acetylacetonates are currently the most widely used precursors, the recently developed heteroligand Ir(I) and Pt(IV) complexes appear to be more promising in both synthetic and thermochemical aspects. Their main advantage is their ability to control thermal properties by modifying several types of ligands, making them tunable to deposit films onto different types of materials and to select a combination of compatible compounds for obtaining the bimetallic materials.

A series of volatile mixed-ligand iridium(I) complexes [Ir(cod)(L)] (cod = cyclooctadiene-1,5, L = R¹C(O)CHC(O)R², R¹ = CF₃, R² = CF₃ – hfac 1, Me – tfac 2; ^tBu – ptac 3, Ph – btfac 4, R¹ = R² = Me – acac 5; ^tBu – thd 6) was synthesized and investigated in terms of usage in metal-organic chemical vapor deposition processes. Compounds 3 and 4 were obtained for the first time. All compounds were investigated by elemental analysis, NMR spectroscopy, thermogravimetry, and mass spectrometry. Crystal structures of 2–4 and 6 were determined by single-crystal XRD. The influence of β-diketonate ligand on the thermal properties of complexes in condensed and gas phase was revealed. The following volatility order was arranged: L = hfac 1 > tfac 2 ≈ ptac 3 > acac 5 > thd 6 > btfac 4. Complexes 1 and 6 vapors demonstrated the lowest and the highest thermostability, respectively.

The first monomeric anhydrous scandium tris(8-quinolinolate) complex 1 with the 2-amino-8-quinolinolate ligands and the Sc₂Q₆ dinuclear complex 2 with the unsubstituted 8-quinolinolate ligands have been synthesized and characterized by X-ray analysis and DFT calculations. The intramolecular hydrogen bonds appear to be responsible for the unique monomeric structure of complex 1. The DFT-based analysis of the electron density topology reveals the (3,−1) critical points corresponding to the O⋯H and N⋯H bonds. The two scandium atoms in compound 2 are inequivalent due to different ligand surroundings. They are coordinated by seven (5O, 2N) and eight (4O, 4N) ligand atoms. The increase in the coordination number is accompanied by a decrease in the positive charge of the metal atom as evidenced by the DFT calculations.

In order to demonstrate the role of the fluorination and some solvents in the structural organization of the Ag(I) coordination polymers with β-diketonate ligands (R¹C(O)C_αHC(O)R²)⁻ we synthesized a series of the compounds containing tfac- (R₁ = CH₃, R² = CF₃) and pfpac- (R₁ = CH₃, R² = C₂F₅) anions. Solvent-free [Ag(L)]_∞ (L = tfac 1, pfpac 2) compounds and the corresponding acetonitrile and toluene adducts have been characterized by elemental analysis and/or NMR, IR and single-crystal XRD. This series includes five new coordination polymers. Compound 1 is a 3D coordination framework based on Ag–O_{chelate/bridge}, Ag–C_α bonds, and argentophilic interactions. An increase in the fluorinated group leads to a chain coordination polymer 2 of an unusual structural organization. These chains can be represented as a “DNA-type”, where two intertwined helices based on Ag–O_chelate and Ag–C_α bonds are connected through Ag–O_bridge ones. Two structural types of chain coordination polymers, [Ag(tfac)(CH₃CN)] and [Ag₂(L)₂(solvent)], have been revealed for the adducts. The latter structural type differs significantly from the previously studied toluene and acetonitrile adducts of fluorinated Ag(I) β-diketonates of the same stoichiometry. Thermal analysis in helium showed that both 1 and 2 decompose to metallic silver with the compound of pfpac-ligand being slightly more stable.