Uses
The dominant application of organoiridium complexes is as catalysts in the Cativa process for carbonylation of methanol to produce acetic acid Iridium is competitive with rhodium for this large-scale application because of lower operating costs.
In the academic laboratories, iridium complexes are widely studied because its complexes promote C-H activation, but such reactions are not employed in any commercial process. Iridium complexes are highly active for hydrogenation both directly and via transfer hydrogenation. The asymmetric versions of these reactions are widely studied.
Iridium complexes such as Ir(mppy)3 have been examined in the context of phosphorescent organic light-emitting diode technology to increase the internal quantum efficiency from 25% to almost 100% by harvesting emission from triplet states.
Read more about this topic: Organoiridium Compound