Regio- and conformational isomerization are fundamental in chemistry, with profound effects upon physical properties, however their role in excited state properties is less developed. Here two regioisomers of bis(10H-phenothiazin-10-yl)dibenzo[b,d]thiophene-S,S-dioxide, a donor–acceptor–donor (D–A–D) thermally-activated delayed fluorescence (TADF) emitter, are studied. 2,8-bis(10H-phenothiazin-10-yl)dibenzo[b,d]thiophene-S,S-dioxide exhibits only one quasi-equatorial conformer on both donor sites, with charge-transfer (CT) emission close to the local triplet state leading to efficient TADF via spin-vibronic coupling. However, 3,7-bis(10H-phenothiazin-10-yl)dibenzo[b,d]thiophene-S,S-dioxide displays both a quasi-equatorial CT state and a higher-energy quasi-axial CT state. No TADF is observed in the quasi-axial CT emission. These two CT states link directly to the two folded conformers of phenothiazine. The presence of the low-lying local triplet state of the axial conformer also means that this quasi-axial CT is an effective loss pathway both photophysically and in devices. Importantly, donors or acceptors with more than one conformer have negative repercussions for TADF in organic light-emitting diodes.

(2016) 'Exciplex enhancement as a tool to increase OLED device e ciency.', Journal of physical chemistry C., 120 (4). pp. 2070-2078. Further information on publisher's website:https://doi.org/10.1021/acs.jpcc.5b11263 Publisher's copyright statement: This document is the Accepted Manuscript version of a Published Work that appeared in nal form in Journal of physical chemistry C, copyright c American Chemical Society after peer review and technical editing by the publisher. To access the nal edited and published work see https://doi.org/10.1021/acs.jpcc.5b11263Additional information: Use policyThe full-text may be used and/or reproduced, and given to third parties in any format or medium, without prior permission or charge, for personal research or study, educational, or not-for-pro t purposes provided that:• a full bibliographic reference is made to the original source • a link is made to the metadata record in DRO • the full-text is not changed in any way The full-text must not be sold in any format or medium without the formal permission of the copyright holders.Please consult the full DRO policy for further details. derivatives that could be used as emitters in OLED devices. We were able to improve the of efficiency DPP materials by forming exciplex enhanced OLED devices. These organic materials were also characterized by electrochemical and spectroscopic methods in order to elucidate each molecule's interaction and decreasing the photoluminescence efficiency.2

Electrochemical and spectroelectrochemical properties of a series of new penta-ring donor -acceptor compounds, comprising 1,3,4-oxadiazole, 1,3,4-thiadiazole and 1,2,4-triazole central ring, symmetrically connected to substituted bithiophenes, were investigated. Aromaticity and electrophilic -nucleophilic traits of the aza-heterocyclic units, fostering inductive and resonance effects that translate to conjugation enhancement and electron (de)localization, were found a major factor determining the key electron properties of ionization potential (IP) and electron affinity (EA) of these molecules. Replacing the alkyl thiophene substituent for an alkoxy one, afforded certain control over the two parameters as well. All studied compounds were found to undergo electrochemical polymerization giving p and n-dopable products, featuring good electrochemical reversibility of their oxidative doping process, as demonstrated by cyclic voltammetry and UV-Vis-NIR, EPR spectroelectrochemistry. While electropolymerisation of entities differing in the heterodiazole unit was found to conserve the EA value, the IP parameter of polymerisation products was found to decrease by 0.6 to 0.7 eV affording an asymmetric narrowing of the frontier energy levels gap. Aided by quantum chemical computations, the effects of structure tailoring of the investigated systems are rationalized, pointing to conscious ways of shaping the electronic properties of thiophene class polymers using synthetically convenient heterodiazole π-conjugated units.

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SummaryA new synthetic approach towards the preparation of functionalised, soluble, donor–acceptor (DA) alkylbithiophene derivatives of oxadiazole, thiadiazole and triazole is reported. Taking advantage of the Fiesselmann reaction, reactive bithiophene synthons having alkyl or alkoxy substituents at designated positions are prepared. Following a synthetic strategy, featuring the bottom-up approach, sequential structural elements are built, starting from a simple thiophene compound, until the target molecule is obtained, all in good yield. Supplementing the well established methods of oxadiazole and thiadiazole synthesis, efficient ring closure reaction affording a 4H-1,2,4-triazole unit is presented. All target ambipolar compounds display strong photoluminescence with measured quantum yields up to 0.59. Modification of the demonstrated synthetic routes may be exploited for the preparation of longer, specifically functionalised oligothiophenes, coupled to other heteroaromatic cores.

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A structure-property study across a series of donor-acceptor-donor structures composed of mono- and bi-(1,3,4-oxadiazole) units symmetrically substituted with alkyl functionalized bi-, ter- and quaterthiophene segments is presented. Synthetically tailoring the ratio of electron-withdrawing 1,3,4-oxadiazole to electron-releasing thiophene units and their alkyl grafting pattern permitted us to scrutinize the impact of these structural factors on the redox, absorptive and emissive properties of these push-pull molecules. Contrasting trends of redox potentials were observed, with the oxidation potential closely following the donor-to-acceptor ratio, whereas the reduction potential being tuned independently by either the number of acceptor units or the conjugation length of the donor-acceptor system. Increasing the thiophene unit contribution delivered a shift from blue to green luminescence, while the structural rigidity afforded by intramolecular non-covalent interactions between 1,3,4-oxadiazole and the thiophene moieties has been identified as the prime factor determining the emission efficiency of these molecules. All six structures investigated electro-polymerize easily, yielding electroactive and electrochromic polymers. The polymer doping process is largely influenced by the length of the oligothiophene repeating unit and the alkyl chain grafting density. Polymers with relatively short oligothiophene segments are able to support polarons and polaron-pairs, whereas those with segments longer than six thiophene units could also stabilize diamagnetic charge carries - bipolarons. Increasing the alkyl chain grafting density improved the reversibility and broadened the working potential window of the p-doping process. Stable radical anions have also been investigated, bringing detailed information about the conjugation pattern of these electron-surplus species. This study delivers interesting clues towards the conscious structural design of bespoke frontier energy level oligothiophene functional materials and their polymers by incorporating a structurally matching 1,3,4-oxadiazole unit.

New photoluminescent donor–acceptor–donor (DAD) molecules, namely 5'-aryl-substituted 2,5-bis(3-decyl-2,2'-bithiophen-5-yl)-1,3,4-oxadiazoles were prepared by palladium-catalyzed coupling from readily available compounds such as ethyl 3-decyl-2,2'-bithiophene-5-carboxylate and aryl halides. The obtained compounds feature increasing bathochromic shifts in their emission spectra with increasing aryl-substituent size yielding blue to bluish-green emissions. At the same time, their absorption spectra are almost independent from the identity of the terminal substituent with λmax values ranging from 395 to 405 nm. The observed trends are perfectly predicted by quantum chemical DFT/TDDFT calculations carried out for these new molecules.