Iridium complex production method

A method for manufacturing tris(β-diketonato)iridium shown by Chem. 2 in which a β-diketone is coordinated to iridium, by reacting the β-diketone shown by Chem. 1 with an iridium compound, wherein

• an activation treatment including (a) an alkali treatment and (b) an acid treatment described below is applied to the iridium compound to activate the iridium compound, and to subsequently react the β-diketone,
• (a) an alkali treatment:
• a treatment of adding alkali to a solution of the iridium compound to raise pH of the solution to a more alkaline side than that before the alkali addition and to not less than 10, and
• (b) an acid treatment:
• a treatment of adding acid to the solution subjected to the alkali treatment to lower pH of the solution to a more acidic side than that before the acid addition and to make the pH difference between solutions before and after the acid addition be not less than 0.1 and not more than 10,
• wherein each of Ra and Rb is a hydrocarbon group or substituents in which a hydrogen atom in a hydrocarbon group is substituted by a halogen atom. Ra and Rb may be different substituents, or the identical substituent. Rc is a substituent composed of any of a hydrogen atom, a halogen atom and a hydrocarbon group;
• and
• wherein Ra, Rb, and Rc have the same meaning as in Chem. 1.