The discovery and utilization of metal-free organic emitters with thermally activated delayed fluorescence (TADF) is a huge breakthrough toward high-performance and low-cost organic light-emitting diodes. Time-dependent second-order perturbation theory including spin−orbit and nonadiabatic couplings, combined with time-dependent density functional theory, is employed to reveal the nature of highly efficient TADF in pure organic emitters. Our results demonstrate that except energy gaps between the lowest singlet (S 1 ) and triplet (T 1 ) excited states the nonadiabatic effect between low-lying excited states should play a key role in the T 1 → S 1 upconversion for TADF emitters, especially donor−acceptor−donor (D−A−D) molecules. We not only clarify the reason why D−A−D molecules with large S 1 −T 1 energy gaps show efficient TADF but also explain the experimental observation that D−A−D-type compounds with S 1 −T 1 gaps close to those of their D−A-shape counterparts display more efficient T 1 → S 1 upconversion.

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The tetrahedral [Cu(phenAr(2))(py)(2)](+) coordination motif (phen = 1,10-phenanthroline; py = pyridine) conceived on the basis of the HETPYP concept (heteroleptic pyridyl and phenanthroline metal complexes) is a versatile dynamic unit for constructing various heteroleptic metallosupramolecular pseudo-1D, 2D, and 3D structures, both in solution and the solid state. The 2,9-diaryl substituted phenanthroline (phenAr(2)) serves as a capping ligand for copper(I) ions, as its bulky nature prevents formation of the homoleptic complex [Cu(phenAr(2))(2)](+). Combination of the dynamic and concave metal ligand building block [Cu(phenAr(2))](+) with various pyridine (py) ligands, such as bi-, tri-, and tetra-pyridines, opened the way to infinite 1D helicates, 2D networks, and discrete 3D hexanuclear cages, whereas spatial integration of both phenAr(2) and py units into a single ligand resulted in the formation of a Borromean-ring-type hexanuclear cage.

By exploiting the supramolecular assistance of a sterically encumbered phenanthroline-Cu(+) motif, we report on the self-assembly of a trigonal nanoprism, its post-self-assembly functionalization, and transformation into a cage-like 3D framework with distinct compartments.

A series of pentacene derivatives, halogen-substituted and thiophene- and pyridine-substituted, have been studied with a focus on the electronic properties and charge transport properties using density functional theory and classical Marcus charge-transfer theory. The transport properties of holes and electrons have been studied to get insight into the effect of halogenation and heteroatom substitution on transport and injection of charge carriers. The calculation results revealed that fluorination and chlorination can effectively lower the lowest unoccupied molecular orbital (LUMO) level, modulate the hole and electron reorganization energy, improve the stacking mode of the crystal structure, and enhance the ambipolar characteristic. Chlorination gives a better ambipolar characteristic. On the basis of halogen substitution, the substitution of terminal benzene ring of triisopropyl-silylethynyl-pentacene (TIPS-PEN) by a thiophene or pyridine will greatly lower the LUMO level and improve the stacking mode, leading to more suitable ambipolar materials. Hence, both intra- and extra-ring substitution are favorable to enhance the ambipolar transport property of TIPS-PEN.

Ladder-type heterotetracenes possessing fully ring-fused structures are a promising class of optoelectronic materials in terms of the lack of any conformational disorder, intense emission and high carrier mobility. To uncover how dual bridging atoms tune their structural and optoelectronic properties, the heterotetracenes were systematically investigated by theoretical calculations from several aspects, such as (i) the geometrical structures of ground and excited states; (ii) the highest occupied molecular orbitals (HOMO), the lowest unoccupied molecular orbitals (LUMO); (iii) ionization potentials (IP), electron affinities (EA), hole extraction potentials (HEP), electron extraction potentials (EEP), internal reorganization energies (λ(int)) and transfer integrals (V); (iv) the absorption and emission spectra in vacuum and the dichloromethane (CH(2)Cl(2)) solvent, band gaps (E(g)), excitation energies at the lowest singlet (E(S1)) or triplet (E(T1)) states as well as radiative lifetimes (τ). The theoretical investigations may be useful for finding new leading materials and are likely to provide important information for improving their photoelectric performance.

A metallosupramolecular prismatic nanocage with altogether six reactive aldehyde terminals was utilized as a sophisticated "monomer" in a template-directed constitutional dynamic imine polymerization to prepare an unprecedented triple-stranded dynamer. To analyze the correlated growth in its three congener strands, a fully covalent triple-armed star polymer was fabricated from the metallodynamer through capping, imine reduction, and removal of the template. Atomic force microscopy analysis of 68 triple-armed star polymer molecules suggests that the growth of their arms is correlated to ~72%.

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