Issue 9, 2017

Turning on the solid emission from non-emissive 2-aryl-3-cyanobenzofurans by tethering tetraphenylethene for green electroluminescence

Abstract

Three green-emitting compounds 1–3 based on 2-aryl-3-cyanobenzofuran fluorophore tethered with aggregation-induced emission active (AIE-active) tetraphenylethene (TPE) were designed and synthesized. p-Methoxyphenyl (PMP) was installed on the 5-, 6-, and 7-positions of 2-aryl-3-cyanobenzofuran for systematically investigating the substituent effect on their photophysical properties in solutions, nanoparticles, films, crystals, as well as powders. The aggregation-caused quenching (ACQ) problem arising from the π–π stacking between fluorophores was surmounted by covalently bonding the TPE unit. Thus, these compounds emitted green light in solids, and the film's quantum yield approached 50.1%. Red-shifted mechanochromism was observed for the crystalline state with a small crystal density. The best OLED performance was achieved using the compound with PMP occupied at the 6-position of 2-aryl-3-cyanobenzofuran, which possessed the longest efficient conjugation length.

Graphical abstract: Turning on the solid emission from non-emissive 2-aryl-3-cyanobenzofurans by tethering tetraphenylethene for green electroluminescence

Supplementary files

Article information

Article type
Research Article
Submitted
29 Mar 2017
Accepted
09 May 2017
First published
09 May 2017

Mater. Chem. Front., 2017,1, 1858-1865

Turning on the solid emission from non-emissive 2-aryl-3-cyanobenzofurans by tethering tetraphenylethene for green electroluminescence

Z. Peng, K. Huang, Y. Tao, X. Li, L. Zhang, P. Lu and Y. Wang, Mater. Chem. Front., 2017, 1, 1858 DOI: 10.1039/C7QM00145B

To request permission to reproduce material from this article, please go to the Copyright Clearance Center request page.

If you are an author contributing to an RSC publication, you do not need to request permission provided correct acknowledgement is given.

If you are the author of this article, you do not need to request permission to reproduce figures and diagrams provided correct acknowledgement is given. If you want to reproduce the whole article in a third-party publication (excluding your thesis/dissertation for which permission is not required) please go to the Copyright Clearance Center request page.

Read more about how to correctly acknowledge RSC content.

Social activity

Spotlight

Advertisements