Rational design of phenothiazine (PTz) and ethylenedioxythiophene (EDOT) based donor–acceptor compounds with a molecular aggregation breaker for solid state emission in red and NIR regions†
Abstract
Two novel donor–acceptor (A–π–D–π–A) fluorophores based on phenothiazine (PTz) and ethylenedioxythiophene (EDOT) have been synthesized. Interestingly, an unusual π-stacking induced planarization of the crystal structure was observed for the PTz ring in the dialdehyde. The solid fluorophores exhibited emission in red (600 nm) and near infrared (NIR; 739 nm) regions with quantum yields of 8.9% and 0.9%, respectively. High quantum yields were obtained for the fluorophore doped polystyrene films.