Boosting the Efficiency of Red Thermally Activated Delayed Fluorescence via Conjugation Enhancement in Push-Pull Naphthalimide Derivatives

Abstract

In this work, we synthesize a series of push–pull compounds bearing naphthalimide as the electron acceptor and tetraphenylethylene (TPE)/triphenylamine (TPA)/phenothiazine (PTZ) as the electron rich/electron donor units. These moieties are arranged in highly conjugated quadrupolar structures. The structure–property relationships are investigated through a joint experimental time–resolved spectroscopic and computational TD–DFT study. The femtosecond transient absorption and fluorescence up–conversion experiments reveal ultrafast photoinduced intramolecular charge transfer. This is likely the key factor leading to efficient spin–orbit CT–induced intersystem crossing for the TPA– and PTZ–derivatives as well as to small singlet–to–triplet energy gap. Consequently, evidence for a delayed fluorescence component is found together with the main prompt emission in the fluorescence kinetics both in solution and in thin film. The weight of the Thermally Activated Delayed Fluorescence (TADF) is greatly enhanced when these fluorophores are used as guests in solid–state host matrices. TADF is interestingly revealed in the orange–red region of the visible. Such long wavelength emission is here observed with surprisingly large fluorescence quantum yields, thanks to the conjugation enhancement achieved in these newly synthesized structures relative to previous studies. Our findings may be thus promising for the future development of efficient third generation TADF–based OLEDs. © 2024 The Author(s). Chemistry - A European Journal published by Wiley-VCH GmbH.