An organic light-emitting material containing cyano-substituted ligand is disclosed. The organic light-emitting material is a metal complex containing a cyano-substituted ligand, which can be used as a light-emitting material in a light-emitting layer of an organic electroluminescent device. These new complexes can provide better device performance, e.g., narrower full width at half maximum, lower voltage values, and higher quantum efficiency, and the like. An electroluminescent device and a compound formulation containing the metal complex, and a compound capable of being used to prepare the metal complex are also disclosed.