Water soluble cyclometalated iridium(III) complexes with disulfonated bathophenanthroline (DSBP^2-) ligand, Ir(L)₂DSBPNa (L = 2-phenylpyridine (ppy), 2-phenylbenzothiazole (bt), 1-phenylisoquinoline (piq), and 2,4-difluorophenylpyridine (fppy)), were synthesized and compared with each other electrochemically and spectroscopically in the search for better luminophores potentially useful for the electrochemiluminescence (ECL) based analytical applications. ECL measurement of Ir(L)₂DSBPNa in tripropylamine (TPA) containing aqueous buffer solutions led to a conclusion that their high photoluminescence quantum yields (ϕ_PL) do not necessarily mean high ECL intensities, due presumably to the complexity of the ECL process. Under the experimental conditions, the ECL intensities of Ir(L)₂DSBPNa were found to be lower than that of ruthenium(II) trisbipyridine reference. A cyclic voltammetric study has revealed that the oxidative states of some iridium(III) complexes are unstable.