To provide an organic electroluminescent device having high stability, high light-emitting efficiency and long life, to provide a new metal complex realizing the element, and to provide a method for producing the metal complex.

This metal complex has a structure containing a metal such as iridium and having unidentate ligands such as hydrogen atom in addition to bidentate ligands. The method for producing the metal complex uses a metal complex having two oxygen atoms-having ligands as a raw material. The organic electroluminescent device which nips one or more organic thin film layers having at least a light-emitting layer between a pair of electrodes is characterized in that at least one of the organic thin film layers contains the metal complex.