Derivative of alpha,beta-dicyanostilbene: convenient precursor for the synthesis of diphenylmaleimide compounds, E-Z isomerization, crystal structure, and solid-state fluorescence.

A convenient and efficient procedure was developed for preparing 3,4-diaryl-substituted maleimides through the improved synthesized diaryl-substituted fumaronitrile. The synthesis of diphenyl-substituted fumaronitrile derivatives from phenylacetonitrile compounds was analyzed and improved. We found the stoichiometry of the sodium methoxide and the concentration of the starting material, phenylacetonitrile derivatives, were crucial for the high yield and easy purification of the products. Particularly, bis(4-bromophenyl)fumaronitrile, bis(3-trifluoromethylphenyl)fumaronitrile, and bis(4-methoxyphenyl)fumaronitrile were isolated in good yields of 70-90% by simple suction filtration. In addition, (1)H NMR provided compelling evidence that the E-Z isomerization was involved in the formation reaction of the maleimide compounds from either fumaronitrile or maleonitrile derivatives. Single-crystal X-ray structures of these three fumaronitrile derivatives, the first three of the kind, were obtained, revealing the nonplanar molecular structure. We ascribe the strong solid-state fluorescence of these diphenylfumaronitrile derivatives to the nonplanar structure that inhibits the close packing of the molecule aggregation and thus the fluorescence quenching.

Readily synthesised arylamino fumaronitrile for non-doped red organic light-emitting diodes.

Bright (maximum 10034 cd m(-2), 455 cd m(-2) at 20 mA cm(-2)) and efficient (maximum 2.4% at 4 mA cm(-2)) red (lambda(max)el 634-636 nm) organic light-emitting diodes employ arylamino-substituted fumaronitrile as the novel host emitter, which is readily prepared and easily purified.

The colourful fluorescence from readily-synthesised 3,4-diaryl-substituted maleimide fluorophores.

A new synthesis procedure has been developed for a series of maleimide-based fluorophores, exhibiting a large variation of emission spectra spanning the entire visible range.

Optimization of high-performance blue organic light-emitting diodes containing tetraphenylsilane molecular glass materials.

Molecular glass material (4-(5-(4-(diphenylamino)phenyl)-2-oxadiazolyl)phenyl)triphenylsilane (Ph(3)Si(PhTPAOXD)) was used as the blue light-emitting material in the fabrication of high-performance organic light-emitting diodes (OLEDs). In the optimization of performance, five types of OLEDs were constructed from Ph(3)Si(PhTPAOXD): device I, ITO/NPB/Ph(3)Si(PhTPAOXD)/Alq(3)/Mg:Ag, where NPB and Alq(3) are 1,4-bis(1-naphylphenylamino)biphenyl and tris(8-hydroxyquinoline)aluminum, respectively; device II, ITO/NPB/Ph(3)Si(PhTPAOXD)/TPBI/Mg:Ag, where TPBI is 1,3,5-tris(N-phenylbenzimidazol-2-yl)benzene; device III, ITO/Ph(2)Si(Ph(NPA)(2))(2)/Ph(3)Si(PhTPAOXD)/TPBI/Mg:Ag, where Ph(2)Si(Ph(NPA)(2))(2) is bis(3,5-bis(1-naphylphenylamino)phenyl)-diphenylsilane, a newly synthesized tetraphenylsilane-containing triarylamine as hole-transporting material; device IV, ITO/Ph(2)Si(Ph(NPA)(2))(2)/NPB/Ph(3)Si(PhTPAOXD)/TPBI/Mg:Ag; device V, ITO/CuPc/NPB /Ph(3)Si(PhTPAOXD)/Alq(3)/LiF/Al, where CuPc is Cu(II) phthalocyanine. Device performances, including blue color purity, electroluminescence (EL) intensity, current density, and efficiency, vary drastically by changing the device thickness (100-600 A of the light-emitting layer) and materials for hole-transporting layer (NPB and/or Ph(2)Si(Ph(NPA)(2))(2)) or electron-transporting material (Alq(3) or TPBI). One of the superior OLEDs is device IV, showing maximum EL near 19 000 cd/m(2) with relatively low current density of 674 mA/cm(2) (or near 3000 cd/m(2) at 100 mA/cm(2)) and high external quantum efficiency of 2.4% (1.1 lm/W or 3.1 cd/A). The device possesses good blue color purity with EL emission maximum (lambda(max)(EL)) at 460 nm, corresponding to (0.16, 0.18) of blue color chromaticity on CIE coordinates. In addition, the device is reasonably stable and sustains heating over 100 degrees C with no loss of luminance on the basis of the annealing data for device V. Formation of the exciplex at the interface of NPB and Ph(3)Si(PhTPAOXD) layers is verified by EL and photoluminescence (PL) spectra studies on the devices with a combination of different charge transporting materials. The EL due to the exciplex (lambda(max)(EL) at 490-510 nm) can be properly avoided by using a 200 A layer of Ph(3)Si(PhTPAOXD) in device I, which limits the charge-recombination zone away from the interface area.