Iridium complex grafted to 3,6‐carbazole‐alt‐tetraphenylsilane copolymers for blue electrophosphorescence

We designed a 3,6‐dibromo‐9‐hexyl‐9H‐carbazole derivative with the blue emissive iridium complex bis2‐(4,6‐difluorophenyl)pyridyl‐N,C^2′](picolinato)iridium(III) (FIrpic) linked at the alkyl terminal. Based on this monomer, novel 3,6‐carbazole‐alt‐tetraphenylsilane copolymers grafted with FIrpic were synthesized by palladium‐catalyzed Suzuki coupling reaction, and the content of FIrpic in the polymers could be controlled by feed ratio of the monomers. The polymer films mainly show blue emission from FIrpic, and the emission intensity from the polymer backbones is much weaker compared with the doped analogues, which demonstrates an efficient energy transfer from polymeric host to covalently bonded guest. The phase separation in the polymers was suppressed, which can be identified by atomic force microscopy and designed electroluminescent (EL) devices. EL devices based on the polymers exhibited blue phosphorescence from FIrpic. The luminous efficiency of preliminary devices reached 2.3 cd/A, and the efficiency roll‐off at high current densities was suppressed. © 2010 Wiley Periodicals, Inc. J Polym Sci Part A: Polym Chem 48: 1859–1865, 2010