Blue AIE luminogens bearing methyl groups: different linkage position, different number of methyl groups, and different intramolecular conjugation

Abstract

In this paper, four AIE-active luminogens (Methyl-BTPE, mMethylTPE-pTPE, oMethyl-BTPE and oMethylTPE-pTPE) exhibiting blue emissions were successfully synthesized, in which methyl groups of different numbers were introduced at different positions, to subtly tune the intramolecular conjugation. Their thermal, optical and electronic properties were fully investigated. The corresponding non-doped OLEDs exhibited high electroluminescence efficiencies with L_max, η_{C, max}, and η_{P, max} values of up to 14 644 cd m⁻², 4.06 cd A⁻¹, and 9.7 lm W⁻¹, respectively, showing the feasibility of this facile synthetic approach for the construction of blue AIE fluorophores.