To elucidate the nature of low-lying triplet states and the effect of ligand modifica- tions on the excited-state properties of functional cationic iridium complexes, the solvent- dependent excited-state dynamics of two phosphorescent cationic iridium（Ⅲ） complexes, namely [Ir（dph-oxd）2（bpy）]PF6 （1） and [Ir（dph-oxd）2（pzpy）]Pf6 （2）, were investigated by femtosecond and nanosecond transient absorption spectroscopy. Upon photoexcitation to the metal-to-ligand charge-transfer （MLCT） states, the excited-state dynamics shows a rapid process （τ-=0.7-3 ps） for the formation of solvent stabilized 3MLCT states, which significantly depends on the solvent polarity for both 1 and 2. Sequentially, a relatively slow process assigned to the vibrational cooling/geometrical relaxation and a long-lived phospho- rescent emissive state is identified. Due to the different excited-state electronic structures regulated by ancillary ligands, the solvation-induced stabilization of the 3MLCT state in 1 is faster than that in 2. The present results provide a better sight of excited-state relaxation dynamics of ligand-related iridium（Ⅲ） complexes and solvation effects on triplet manifolds.
