Pt(2-thpy)(2) and Pt(2-thpy) (CO)Cl are investigated as representative
s for the class of platinum metal compounds with organic ligands. At T
= 1.3 K, these compounds show very interesting emission rise and deca
y properties due to relatively slow spin-lattice relaxations (SLR) bet
ween the low-lying triplet sublevels. These properties, which depend l
argely on the zero-field splittings (ZFS) of the lowest triplets, may
be tuned chemically. (C) 1998 Elsevier Science B.V. All rights reserve
d.