Bright Solid-State Emission of Disilane-Bridged Donor-Acceptor-Donor and Acceptor-Donor-Acceptor Chromophores

The development of disilane-bridged donor-acceptor-donor (D-Si-Si-A-Si-Si-D) and acceptor-donor-acceptor (A-Si-Si-D-Si-Si-A) compounds is described. Both types of compound showed strong emission ((em)=ca. 500 and ca. 400nm, respectively) in the solid state with high quantum yields (phi: up to 0.85). Compound 4 exhibited aggregation-induced emission enhancement in solution. X-ray diffraction revealed that the crystal structures of 2, 4, and 12 had no intermolecular - interactions to suppress the nonradiative transition in the solid state.