Aromatic substituents for prohibiting side-chain packing and π-π stacking in tin-cored tetrahedral stilbenoids

Tetrahedral structures comprising Sn-cored materials with five different types of substituents were synthesized. For the substituents, we employed methyl and tert-butyl as aliphatic groups, and naphthyl and phenyl as aromatic groups. The bandgap is in the range of 3.28 - 3.56 eV. The All the compounds with substituents showed bathochromical photoluminescence characteristics and exhibited aggregation-induced emission characteristics. Specifically, the compounds with aromatic substituents prohibited side-chain packing and pi-pi stacking. The energy levels of the highest occupied and lowest unoccupied molecular orbitals were measured to be 5.5 - 5.75 and 2.0 - 2.37 eV, respectively. The maximum luminance efficiencies and power efficiencies of the Sn-cored compound-based organic light-emitting diodes (OLEDs) were 0.38 - 0.71 cd/A and 0.15 - 0.28 lm/W. Therefore, it is expected that Sn-cored compounds with a tetrahedral structure, especially those containing aromatic substituents, can be used as an active material in blue OLEDs for prohibiting side-chain packing and pi-pi stacking.