Similar or Totally Different: The Control of Conjugation Degree through Minor Structural Modifications, and Deep-Blue Aggregation-Induced Emission Luminogens for Non-Doped OLEDs

Four 4,4-bis(1,2,2-triphenylvinyl)biphenyl (BTPE) derivatives, 4,4-bis(1,2,2-triphenylvinyl)biphenyl, 2,3-bis(1,2,2-triphenylvinyl)biphenyl, 2,4-bis(1,2,2-triphenylvinyl)biphenyl, 3,3-bis(1,2,2-triphenylvinyl)biphenyl and 3,4-bis(1,2,2-triphenylvinyl)biphenyl (oTPE-mTPE, oTPE-pTPE, mTPE-mTPE, and mTPE-pTPE, respectively), are successfully synthesized and their thermal, optical, and electronic properties fully investigated. By merging two simple tetraphenylethene (TPE) units together through different linking positions, the -conjugation length is effectively controlled to ensure the deep-blue emission. Because of the minor but intelligent structural modification, all the four fluorophores exhibit deep-blue emissions from 435 to 459 nm with Commission Internationale de l'Eclairage (CIE) chromaticity coordinates of, respectively, (0.16, 0.14), (0.15, 0.11), (0.16, 0.14), and (0.16, 0.16), when fabricated as emitters in organic light-emitting diodes (OLEDs). This is completely different from BTPE with sky-blue emission (0.20, 0.36). Thus, these results may provide a novel and versatile approach for the design of deep-blue aggregation-induced emission (AIE) luminogens.