Four-coordinate boron compounds derived from 2-(2-pyridyl)phenol ligand as novel hole-blocking materials for phosphorescent OLEDs

Four-coordinate boron compounds of Ph₂B · 1 (2) and (C₆F₅)₃B(1 · H) (3) were prepared from the reaction of 2-(2-pyridyl)phenol (1 · H) ligand with triarylborane starting materials, BPh₃ and B(C₆F₅)₃, respectively, and tested as hole-blocking layer (HBL) materials in phosphorescent OLEDs. While the crystal structure of 2 reveals the pseudo-tetrahedral geometry around the boron center with bidentate N,O] chelation by 1, 3 is characterized as the zwitterionic four-coordinate system where the ligand 1 · H acts as monodentate O] chelator with N-protonation. UV-Vis absorption and PL spectra of 2 and 3 are consistent with the ligand-centered, HOMO-LUMO electronic transitions with charge transfer from a phenoxide ring to a pyridine, which was further supported by time dependent DFT calculation for 2. Both compounds are found to possess the HOMO-LUMO energy gap of 3.1 eV appropriate for hole-blocking materials for phosphorescent OLEDs. The devices incorporating 2 and 3 as HBL materials displayed stable green phosphorescence of Ir(ppy)₃ (ppy = 2-phenylpyridine) with low turn-on voltage of 3.2 and 3.4 V, respectively, indicating that 2 and 3 function as HBL materials. Although both devices show the short lifetime (<1 h) probably owing to the low thermal stability, the device based on 2 displays better performances in terms of luminance, power and luminance efficiency, and external quantum efficiency in a wide range of current densities (0.1-100 mA/cm²) than the reference device incorporating BAlq as HBL materials.