Incorporation of narcissistic self-sorting supramolecular interactions for the spontaneous fabrication of multiple-color solid-state materials for OLED applications

A series of six compounds composed of an emissive oligofluorene or dithiophenethiobenzimidazole (p3) core bearing H-bonding biuret molecular recognition motifs in the meta- or para-position was investigated with regard to their propensity to undergo either social or narcissistic self-sorting when deposited from dilute THF solutions. The structural similarity of the compounds uniformly leads to social self-sorting with the exception of two combinations involving p3 for which narcissistic self-sorting is observed instead. Their behavior is attributed to the difference in location of the biuret groups (meta vs. para) combined with a greater structural difference in the conjugated core. Deposition of solutions demonstrating narcissistic self sorting gives rise to ensembles of disk-like aggregates exhibiting two different populations of emission (blue and magenta or yellow and orange).