Absorption spectra were measured of Ir(dFppy)2(pmi) and Ir(dFppy)2(iCzmi) in MeCN (Figure ). Both complexes show intense absorption bands between 200 and 290 nm, which can be assigned to spinallowed ligand-centered (LC) π → π* transitions on the dFppy and NHC ligands. The more moderately intense absorption bands between 300 and 370 nm are assigned to spin-allowed mixed metal-to ligand and ligand-to-ligand-charge-transfer singlet transitions ( 1 MLCT/LLCT) by analysis of the TD-DFT calculations (Table ). The weakest absorption bands on the low-energy edge of the absorption spectrum tailing off at 460 nm are assigned to the formally spin-forbidden 3 MLCT/ 3 LLCT and 3 LC (Table ) transitions, made possible by the strong spin-orbit coupling (SOC) effect because of the iridium centre. The absorption spectrum of Ir(dFppy)2(iCzmi) shows much more intense bands compared to that of Ir(dFppy)2(pmi). This is due to the more intense LLCT and LC transitions in the 300-380 nm region for iCzmi compared to pmi, which is consistent with conclusions from the literature and the trend in the calculated oscillator strengths for these transitions (Table ).