Spectral characterizations and photophysical properties of one-step synthesized blue fluorescent 4′-aryl substituted 2,2′:6′,2′′-terpyridine for OLEDs application

Abstract

We have synthesized a series of 4′-aryl substituted 2,2′:6′,2′′-terpyridine (terpy) derivatives, namely 4′-(4-methylphenyl)-2,2′:6′,2′′-terpyridine (C-1), 4′-(2-furyl)-2,2′:6′2′′-terpyridine (C-2), and 4′-(3,4,5-trimethoxyphenyl)-2,2′:6′,2′′-terpyridine (C-3). The synthesized terpy compounds were characterized by elemental analyses, FTIR, NMR (1H and 13C), and ESI-Mass spectrometry. Photophysical, electrochemical and thermal properties of terpy compounds were systematically studied. Maximum excitation band was observed between 240 and 330 nm using UV–visible spectra, and maximum emission peaks from PL spectra were observed at 385, 405 and 440 nm for C-1, C-2 and C-3 respectively. Fluorescence lifetime (τ) of the fluorophores was found to be 0.35 and 1.55 ns at the excitation wavelength of 406 nm for C-1 and C-2 respectively, and τ value for C-3 was found to be 0.29 ns at the excitation wavelength of 468 nm. We noticed that the calculated values of HOMO energy levels were increased from 5.96 (C-1) to 6.08 (C-3) eV, which confirms that C-3 derivative is more electrons donating in nature. The calculated electrochemical band gaps were 2.95, 2.82 and 3.02 eV for C-1, C-2 and C-3 respectively. These blue fluorescent emitter derivatives can be used as an electron transport and electroluminescent material to design the blue fluorescent organic light emitting diode (OLED) applications.