Charge‐Transfer Modulation of Emissivity in Polarized Diketopyrrolopyrroles

Abstract

Strongly polarized donor‐acceptor‐donor′ diketopyrrolopyrroles, differing in the type of key donor moiety, were designed and synthesized to examine how this affects the non‐radiative decay. Dyes possessing less electron‐rich N‐carbazolyl substituents are characterized by strong yellow emission from a locally excited (LE) state, whereas replacing this donor with more electron‐rich N‐phenothiazinyl substituent changes the relative position of CT and LE states, leading to weaker, reddish‐orange fluorescence. As a result, there is solvent‐dependent charge‐transfer emission shifted to as far as 700 nm. The opening of the intersystem crossing channel to the triplet state possessing CT character is the most likely cause of the fluorescence quantum yield variation in some cases. These results reveal that the fate of molecules in their excited state can be fine‐tuned by very small structural changes.