Synthesis and characterization of novel N-carbazole end-capped oligothiophene-fluorenes

A series of novel N-carbazole end-capped oligothiophene-fluorenes was synthesized using Ullmann coupling, bromination, and Suzuki coupling reactions. The optical, thermal, and electrochemical properties of these materials can be tuned by varying the conjugation length of the oligothiophene segment. The terminal carbazole and central fluorene moieties of the resulting materials are beneficial for their morphology, conjugation length, and solubility.     

Synthesis and characterization of N-carbazole end-capped oligofluorenes

A series of N-carbazole end-capped oligofluorenes (CF_n, n = 1-3) were synthesized. The 9-position of the carbazole moiety was attached to the terminal ends of the oligofluorene cores using an Ullmann coupling reaction. These molecules exhibit red shifts in absorption and photoluminescence spectra with respect to the number of fluorene units and excellent electrochemical reversibility. They were found to be potential blue light-emitting or hole-transporting materials for organic light-emitting diodes (OLEDs).     

Synthesis, optical, electrochemical, and thermal properties of α,α′-bis(9,9-bis-n-hexylfluorenyl)-substituted oligothiophenes

A series of new α,α′-bis(9,9-bis-n-hexylfluorenyl)-substituted oligothiophenes with 2-, 4-, and 6-thiophene rings have been synthesized via a nickel-catalyzed reductive dimerization and their optical, electrochemical, and thermal properties investigated. The fluorene substituents have shown electronic interactions with the oligothiophene chains, enhanced the solubility of these materials and stabilized the radical cation and dication by blocking the reactive α-positions of the thiophene moieties. The absorption, fluorescence, electrochemical, and thermal properties of these materials can be tuned by varying the conjugation length of the oligothiophene segment.     

Synthesis and properties of N-carbazole end-capped conjugated molecules

A series of novel N-carbazole end-capped π-conjugated molecules were synthesized by a divergent approach with the use of bromination, Suzuki cross-coupling, and Ullmann reactions and their physical properties were investigated. In dilute solution, UV-vis absorption spectra displayed bathochromic shift with respect to their conjugated backbones, and photoluminescence spectra showed emission maxima in the blue region. Thermal analysis revealed that they are thermally stable semi-crystalline and amorphous materials. All molecules exhibited good electrochemical stability with high-lying HOMO energy levels and have potential applications as hole-transporting and light-emitting layers in organic light-emitting diodes or as host materials for electrophosphorescent applications.     

Synthesis, characterization, and properties of 7,7′-bis(3,6-di-tert-butylcarbazol-N-yl)-substituted fluorenyl-oligothiophenes

A series of new 7,7′bis(3,6-di-tert-butylcarbazol-N-yl)-substituted fluorenyl-oligothiophenes bearing 0-, 2-, 4-, 6-, and 8-thiophene rings, namely BCFTn, were synthesized using palladium catalyzed Stille dimerization coupling reactions of their corresponding brominated thiophenes. The relationship between the chemical structure and the properties of these oligomers was evaluated. With respect to the electronic properties, the longest wavelength absorptions, emissions, and also the oxidation potentials can be tuned by varying the conjugation length of the oligothiophene segments. The terminal carbazole and fluorene moieties of the resulting materials are beneficial for their morphology, conjugation length, and solubility.     

Bis(4-diphenylaminophenyl)carbazole end-capped fluorene as solution-processed deep-blue light-emitting and hole-transporting materials for electroluminescent devices

A new highly fluorescent bis(4-diphenylaminophenyl)carbazole end-capped fluorene (TCF) is synthesized and characterized. TCF is an amorphous molecular glass with a high glass transition temperature of 169 °C, is electrochemically stable, and gives strong blue emission both in solution and solid state. It showed greater ability as a solution processed blue emitter and hole-transporter for OLEDs than commonly used NPB. High-efficiency, deep-blue and Alq3-based green devices with luminance efficiencies and CIE coordinates of 0.93 cd/A and (0.16, 0.09), and 3.78 cd/A and (0.29, 0.45) were achieved, respectively.     

Synthesis and properties of N,N,N′,N′-tetrasubstituted 1,3-bis(5-aminothien-2-yl)azulenes and their application as a hole-injecting material in organic light-emitting devices

Two title compounds, N,N,N′,N′-tetraphenyl-1,3-bis(5-aminothien-2-yl)azulene (3a) and 1,3-bis{5-(9-carbazolyl)thien-2-yl}azulene (3b), were synthesized from 1,3-di(2-thienyl)azulene (4) by a two-step sequence involving bromination and subsequent Pd-catalyzed amination. These compounds were characterized by spectroscopic analyses and the structure of 3a was determined by X-ray crystallographic analysis. Their HOMO energy levels were estimated using their electrochemical oxidation potentials, and these compounds were used as a hole-injecting material in organic light-emitting devices. The device with 3a showed greater durability than that with copper phthalocyanine.     

Synthesis and characterization of high Tg carbazole-based amorphous hole-transporting materials for organic light-emitting devices

Novel hole-transporting materials based on carbazole dendrimers, namely G1CBC and G2CBC were synthesized and characterized. They are thermally stable with high glass transition temperatures (T_g) up to 245 °C and exhibit chemically-stable redox processes. Double-layer green OLEDs using these materials as the hole-transporting layer (HTL) with the device configuration of ITO/HTL/Alq3/LiF:Al emit brightly (λ_em 522-534 nm) from the Alq3 layer with a maximum luminance and low turn-on voltage of 15,890 cd/m² and 3.0 V, respectively. Their ability as HTLs in terms of device performance is comparable to the common hole-transporter N,N′-diphenyl-N,N′-bis(1-naphthyl)-(1,1′-biphenyl)-4,4′-diamine (NPB), however their thermal properties were far greater than both NPB and N,N′-bis(3-methylphenyl)-N,N′-bis(phenyl)benzidine (TPD).     

Synthesis of bifluorene-based molecular materials: effect of C-9 spirocyclohexane functionalization and end-group tailoring

The preparation and properties of the first spirocyclohexane-functionalized bifluorene-based monodispersed molecular materials is described. The obtained compounds were characterized by ¹H NMR, ¹³C{¹H} NMR, IR, DSC, UV-vis and photoluminescence both in solution and in the solid state. The molecules show emissions ranging from the blue to the blue-green region, and higher glass transition temperatures and spectral stability with respect to the analogous compounds containing 9,9,9′,9′-tetrahexyl-[2,2′]-bifluorene core. The materials were used as active layers in electroluminescent devices with ITO/PEDOT-PSS/SB1-4/Ca/Al and ITO/PEDOT-PSS/SB1-4/BCP/Ca/Al configurations.     

Synthesis,characterization, and properties of novel bis(aryl)carbazole-containing N-coumarin derivatives

A series of novel N-coumarin derivatives containing oligothiophene-substituted N-coumarins as the core and bis(aryl)carbazoles as the substituent were synthesized and characterized. Their optical, electrochemical, and thermal properties were investigated. The electroluminescence (EL) properties of the selected materials were also studied. Solution-processed OLEDs with green and yellow light emission, turn-on voltages of 2.7–2.9 V, and maximum luminance efficiencies of up to 3.94 cd A⁻¹ at 17.6 mA cm⁻² (maximum power efficiency of 1.62 lm W⁻¹) were prepared.     

Multibromo-N-alkylcarbazoles: synthesis, characterization, and their benzo[b]thiophene derivatives

We present an efficient method for the selective bromination of N-alkylcarbazoles using N-bromosuccinimide (NBS) in THF. Four brominated N-alkylcarbazoles including 3-bromo-, 3,6-dibromo-, 1,3,6-tribromo- and 1,3,6,8-tetrabromo-carbazoles were prepared and identified by ¹H NMR spectroscopy. Subsequent cross-coupling of these carbazoles with benzo[b]thien-2-ylboronic acid gave the corresponding benzo[b]thien-2-yl functionalized carbazoles in good yields.     

Synthesis, characterization, photophysics and electrophosphorescent applications of phosphorescent platinum cyclometalated complexes with 9-arylcarbazole moieties

A series of cyclometalating platinum(II) complexes with substituted 9-arylcarbazolyl chromophores have been synthesized and characterized. These complexes are thermally stable and most of them have been characterized by X-ray crystallography. The phosphorescence emissions of the complexes are dominated by ³MLCT excited states. The excited state properties of these complexes can be modulated by varying the electronic characteristics of the cyclometalating ligands via substituent effects, thus allowing the emission to be tuned from bright green to yellow, orange and red light. The correlation between the functional properties of these metallophosphors and the results of density functional theory calculations was made. Because of the propensity of the electron-rich carbazolyl group to facilitate hole injection/transport, the presence of such moiety can increase the highest occupied molecular orbital levels and improve the charge balance in the resulting complexes relative to the parent platinum(II) phosphor with 2-phenylpyridine ligand. The solution-processed electrophosphorescent organic light-emitting diodes doped with these platinum-based phosphors have been fabricated which showed a maximum external quantum efficiency of 2.77% for the best device, corresponding to a power efficiency of 3.48 lm/W and a luminance efficiency of 8.49 cd/A. The present work enables the rational design of platinum-carbazolyl electrophosphors by synthetically tailoring the structure of carbazolylpyridine ring that can permit good color-tuning versatility suitable for multi-color display technology.     

Synthesis, characterization, physical properties, and applications of highly fluorescent pyrene-functionalized 9,9-bis(4-diarylaminophenyl)fluorene in organic light-emitting diodes

A new, highly fluorescent pyrene-functionalized 9,9-bis(4-diarylaminophenyl)fluorene, namely PTF, was synthesized and characterized. This material is an amorphous molecular glass with notably high T_g, is electrochemically stable, and exhibits strong blue emission both in solution and solid state. It shows promising ability as a solution processed blue emitter and hole-transporter for OLEDs. High-efficiency sky-blue and Alq3-based green devices with luminance efficiencies of 1.13 and 4.08 cd/A are achieved, respectively.     

Synthesis and blue light-emitting properties of 4,4''''-bis(diphenylamino)-quinque(p-phenyl)s

An excellent organic blue light-emitting diode based on 4,40-bis(diphenylamino)-quinque( p-phenylene)s (OPP(5)-NPh) with a maximum luminance of up to 5000 cd/m2 and a luminanous efficiency of 1.3 cd/A was reported. This diode was made by using a wide band-gap hole-blocking layer, F-TBB instead of PBD in the OLED devices. We attribute the good performance to the one trade-off involved in the use of F-TBB to obtain higher luminance is the increased turn-on voltages and slightly decreased device efficiencies.     

Synthesis and characterization of fluorene and carbazole dithienosilole derivatives for potential applications in organic light-emitting diodes

Several fluorene or carbazole-based dithienosiloles (DTSs) have been synthesized and their thermal, photophysical, and electrochemical properties have been systematically investigated. These compounds show high thermal stability with glass transition temperature above 110 °C as well as decomposition temperatures at ∼400 °C. Intense green emission is observed in the spectral region of 500-510 nm for all compounds (Φ_PL=0.31-0.80), that is, attributed to both the 5,5′-substituents of the DTS ring and DTS-based π-π^∗ transition. Based on the emission spectra at 77 K, the triplet energy for these compounds was calculated to be within 2.1-2.2 eV, indicating that they may be used as host materials for red emitters in organic light-emitting diodes (OLEDs). All compounds exhibit reversible oxidation and possess low-lying LUMO energies, owing to the conjugated fluorene/carbazole substituents on the DTS. This along with the high thermal/electrochemical stabilities and high fluorescent quantum efficiencies makes the new DTSs compounds promising candidates for use in OLEDs as emitters, host and electron-transporting materials.     

Synthesis and spectral characteristics of two novel intramolecular charge transfer fluorescent dyes

The synthesis and absorption/fluorescence properties of two novel intramolecular charge transfer (ICT) compounds of (fluorene-2-yl)-(9-ethylcarbazole-3-yl) ketene and 1-phenyl-3-(fluorenone-2-yl)-5-(9-ethylcarbazole-3-yl)-2-pyrazoline were reported. The primary structure of the target compounds was characterized by IR and ¹H NMR. The systems contained a fluorenone or a propenon group as an electron acceptor (A) and an N-ethylcarbazole and a pyrazoline group as electron donors (D). From the emissive properties it was concluded that the electronic coupling between D and A was sufficient to allow charge transfer in these molecules. The ICT maximal emission displayed a large wavelength shift and Stokes shifts increased in response to the increase of the solvent polarity. The highly solvatochromic properties made the two compounds of great interest as new classes of fluorescent probes, electroluminescent and electrofax materials.     

Molecular engineering of organic dyes containing N-aryl carbazole moiety for solar cell

Organic dyes containing N-aryl carbazole moiety are designed and synthesized. Under standard global AM 1.5 solar condition, the JK-25 sensitized cell gave a short circuit photocurrent density (J_sc) of 11.50 mA cm⁻², an open circuit voltage (V_oc) of 0.68 V, a fill factor of 0.66, corresponding to an overall conversion efficiency η of 5.15%, and the maximum incident monochromatic photon-to-current conversion efficiency (IPCE) of 77% at 430 nm.     

Synthesis, optical, electrochemical, and thermal properties of conjugated α-fluorenyl oligothiophenes

A series of new α-fluorenyl oligothiophenes up to the pentamer have been synthesized using Suzuki cross-coupling and bromination reactions. The optical, electrochemical, and thermal properties of these materials can be tuned by varying the number of thiophene rings. The longer oligomers (n ? 4) were stable, crystalline, and unreactive to electrochemical oxidative dimerization.     

Synthesis and optical properties of conjugated N,N-dimethyl and thienyl end-capped 2,5-(arylethynyl)thiophene oligomer structures

End-capped (N,N-dimethylaminophenyl) and 2′-thienylethynyl 2,5-thiophene oligomer structures were synthesized by heterocoupling between the terminal acetylenes such as: p-(N,N-dimethylaminophenyl)ethyne (3) [or 1-(p-(N,N-dimethylaminophenyl)-2-p-(ethynylphenyl)ethyne, 4]; p-(β-ethenyl-2′-thienyl)phenylethyne (E-9) [or p-(β-ethynyl-2′-thienyl)phenylethyne, 11], and 2,5-diiodothiophene, catalyzed by the Cl₂Pd(PPh₃)₂/CuI system, in good to excellent yields. The 2,5-di[(3′,5′-di(trimethylsilylethynyl)phenyl]_x-1-ethynyl]thiophene oligomers were prepared by heterocoupling between 3′,5′-di[(trimethylsilylethynyl)phenyl]_x-1-ethyne (n = 0-2) terminal acetylenes and 2,5-diiodothiophene, in excellent yields. The terminal acetylenes were efficiently prepared by a specific protection-deprotection methodology. All the ethynylphenyl compounds obtained show fluorescence radiation emission, with a bathochromic shift of the wavelength that increases with the chain conjugation.