Silylethynylated anthracene derivatives for use in organic light-emitting diodes

We have prepared a series of trialkylsilylethynylated anthracenes (a-d) to investigate the effects of solid-state interactions and acene substitution on the electroluminescence spectra of OLED devices. We designed these materials to have differing amounts of pi-face interactions and various film morphologies. We were particularly interested in intermolecular interactions between aromatic faces, which would manifest in the electroluminescence spectrum as a bathochromic shift and broadening of the emission peak when compared to the solution photoluminescence spectrum. The anthracene derivatives with no electronic interactions, as determined by single-crystal X-ray crystallography, produced devices that showed no bathochromic shift and better efficiencies.