Unveiling the multifunctional properties of dicyanoisophorone derivatives: from white OLEDs and picric acid sensing to nonlinear optics

Abstract

Newly designed and synthesized derivatives of dicyanoisophorone and different donors, i.e., phenylcarbazole, fluorene, phenanthrene and dimethylfluorene, are characterized by high thermal stability and exhibit aggregation-induced emission enhancement. White organic light-emitting diodes with the derivative of fluorene and dicyanoisophorone as the emitter, operating via hybridized local and charge transfer states, are characterized by a color rendering index of 82. The emitter is also used for the detection of picric acid with Stern–Volmer constants of 16.2 × 10⁴ and 2.7 × 10³ M⁻¹. The structure-dependent nonlinear optical response with β_zzz values in the range of 785–1901 × 10⁻³⁰ esu measured using the hyper-Rayleigh scattering (HRS) technique reflects the multifunctional potential of these materials.