Benzothiadiazole-based dyes that emit red light in solution, solid, and liquid state

In this paper, we report the preparation and red-light-emitting behavior of benzothiadiazole-tris(alkyloxy)phenylethene dyes. In solution, we observed an efficient red light emission with high fluorescence quantum yields (up to 0.78). With increase in solvent polarity, the emission bands shifted to longer wavelengths accompanied by a large Stokes shift of up to 152 nm. A moderate fluorescence quantum yield of 0.52 could be achieved even in the polar solvent dimethylformamide. Red light emission with good fluorescence quantum yields (up to 0.50) was also observed in the bulk solid, liquid, and film state. (C) 2013 Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved.