Small molecules having intense luminescence properties are required to promote biological and organic material applications. We prepared five types of benzamides having pyridine, pyridazine, pyrazine, and pyrimidine rings and successfully converted them into three types of the difluoroboronated complexes, Py@BAs, as novel blue fluorophores. Py@BA having a pyridine moiety (2-Py@BA) showed no fluorescence in solution, whereas Py@BAs of pyridazine and pyrazine moieties (2,3-Py@BA and 2,5-Py@BA, respectively) emitted blue fluorescence with quantum yields of ca. 0.1. Transient absorption measurements using laser flash photolysis of the Py@BAs revealed the triplet formation of 2,3- and 2,5-Py@BAs, while little transient signal was observed for 2-Py@BA. Therefore, the deactivation processes from the lowest excited singlet state of fluorescent 2,3- and 2,5-Py@BAs consist of fluorescence and intersystem crossing to the triplet state while that of the nonfluorescent Py@BA is governed almost entirely by internal conversion to the ground state. Conversely, in the solid state, 2-Py@BA emitted intense fluorescence with a fluorescence quantum yield as high as 0.66, whereas 2,3- and 2,5-Py@BAs showed fluorescence with quantum yields of ca. 0.2. The crystal structure of 2-Py@BA took a herringbone packing motif, whereas those for 2,3- and 2,5-Py@BAs were two-dimensional sheetlike. On the basis of the difference in crystal structures, the emission mechanism in the solid state was discussed.

Six difluoroboronated β-diketones having the phenanthrene skeleton (Phe@Ar) are prepared. Based on the measurements of the fluorescence quantum yields, lifetimes and transient absorption, the photophysical features of Phe@Ar are studied in comparison with those of difluoroboronated diketones having phenyl, naphthyl and anthryl moieties. β-Diketones having 1-, 2-, 3- and 9-phenanthryl moieties (PheDKAr) were prepared as the precursor to Phe@Ar. 1-Acetylphenanthrene was synthesized by the photocyclization method as the key building block of PheDKAr having the 1-phenanthryl moiety. The counter aromatic moieties (Ar) of the prepared PheDKAr are varied with phenyl, furyl and thienyl rings (Ar = Ph, F and T, respectively) to investigate the effects of π-conjugation on the fluorescence properties. The prepared Phe@Ars are fluorescent with appreciable fluorescence quantum yields which depend on the substitution position of the phenanthrene moiety. 3-Phe@Ph having the 3-phenanthryl moiety provides the largest fluorescence quantum yield (0.81) in acetonitrile among the Phe@Ars whereas 2-Phe@Ph having the 2-phenanthryl moiety shows the smallest fluorescence quantum yield (0.07) in acetonitrile. All the Phe@Ars show fluorescence also in the solid state, and the fluorescence spectra and quantum yields were determined. Transient absorption measurement using laser flash photolysis of the Phe@Ars revealed the triplet formation. DFT and TD-DFT calculations of Phe@Ars rationalize the dependency of the fluorescence quantum yields on the substitution position of the phenanthrene skeleton in terms of difference in the oscillator strength for the HOMO-LUMO transition.

Aromatic difluoroboronated β-diketone (BF DK) derivatives are a widely known class of luminescent organic materials that exhibit high photoluminescent quantum efficiency and unique aggregation-dependent fluorescence behavior. However, there have been only a few reports on their use in solid-state electronic devices, such as organic light-emitting devices (OLEDs). Herein, we investigated the solid-state properties and OLED performance of a series of π-extended BF DK derivatives that have previously been shown to exhibit intense fluorescence in the solution state. The BF DK derivatives formed exciplexes with a carbazole derivative and exhibited thermally activated delayed fluorescence (TADF) behavior to give orange electroluminescence with a peak external quantum efficiency of 10 % that apparently exceeds the theoretical efficiency limit of conventional fluorescent OLEDs (7.5 %), assuming a light out-coupling factor of 30 %.

We investigated the photophysical properties of difluoroboronated β-diketones (BF2DK) with chrysene and pyrene skeletons (ChB and PyB, respectively) in solution and in the solid state. Acetylchrysenes, as the key precursors to ChBs, were photochemically prepared from the corresponding (acetylphenyl)naphthylethenes by means of a modified photocyclization method. The absorption and emission spectra of the BF2DKs were obtained in chloroform and acetonitrile, and the quantum yields and lifetimes of the fluorescence were determined. Excimeric fluorescence from PyB was absent even in highly concentrated solution. Based on the Lippert-Mataga analysis of the absorption and fluorescence features, the photophysical properties of the ChBs were discussed in comparison with those of PyB. The fluorescence states of the studied BF2DKs are shown to be of a charge-transfer character. The fluorescence quantum yields decrease with increasing the solvent polarity due to the enhanced internal conversion process. The fluorescence quantum yields in the solid state of the studied BF2DKs were determined, and it was found that PyB is fluorescent, whereas the fluorescence quantum yields of the ChBs depend on the substituted position of the chrysene moiety.

3,3′,5,5′-tetramethoxy azobenzene (TMAB) and amphiphilic azobenzene dendrimers (AGn-azo) bearing triethylene glycol were synthesized and their isomerization behavior investigated. The solvation structures and isomerization behavior of AGn-azo were expected to change with solvent and generation.