A light-emitting element having excellent light-emitting properties and with which it is possible to emit blue light at a high luminance for a long period of time, and an iridium complex for realizing the same. The light-emitting element has an external quantum efficiency of at least 5% and a light emission maximum wavelength .lamda.max of no more than 500 nm. Further, there is provided a light-emitting element including a light-emitting layer or a plurality of organic compound layers having the light-emitting layer, with at least one of the compound layers including at least one kind of a compound having a partial structure represented by the general formula K-0. In the general formula K-0, R.sup.1 to R.sup.7 each independently represents a hydrogen atom or a substituent, provided that if R.sup.2 is a fluorine atom, R.sup.3 is not a hydrogen atom ##STR00001##