Synthesis of phenothiazine incorporated phenanthroimidazole derivatives

Abstract

Stimuli-responsive small conjugated organic molecules have gained significant interest for utility in smart materials like OLEDs, memory devices, sensors, rewritable papers that are reshaping the ways in which security should function in today’s cyberworld. It is a prerequisite for a molecule to show intense solid-state emission to be employed in various applications. One of the preferred ways to synthesize such molecules with high fluorescence efficiency is to upgrade the D-A (donor-acceptor) molecules by introducing π-linkers between multiple donor and acceptor moieties. Herein, we have followed elementary D A approach to synthesize phenothiazine incorporated phenanthroimidazole molecules, in which, the phenothiazine was used as electron donor unit and the phenanthroimidazole was used as electron acceptor unit. The structure comprises an additional phenyl ring which is directly attached to the N- position of the imidazole ring. We have incorporated heavy atoms, bromine (-Br) to molecular structure of the target molecules which could result significant halogen–halogen bonds in the solid state and hence these halogen– halogen interactions may contribute to the enhancement of aggregation-induced emission by strictly restricting the molecules' vibration and rotation.