Photophysical
properties of four new ionic blue emitting phenanthroimidazole
derivatives were investigated. Rarely utilized meta and ortho positions
of C2 substituted benzene linker of phenanthroimidazole
were functionalized herein to generate blue emitters for light-emitting
electrochemical cell (LEC) applications. To this end, pyrene and anthracene
units were coupled to phenanthroimidazole core through meta or ortho
linkage. This molecular design strategy is anticipated to generate
deeper blue emission than the corresponding para isomers due to lack
of extended conjugation. Highly contrasting properties were observed
between ortho- and meta-coupled fluorophores. Unexpectedly, solubility
issues hinder the application of ortho-linked molecules in LEC devices.
However, bright blue emissions were achieved in LEC devices when meta
derivatives were mixed in the active layer of LEC with poly(ethylene
oxide) and lithium triflate. Notably, the molecule having pyrene and
phenanthroimidazole coupled through meta linkage (mPy) presented the
best performance. It was identified that a fundamental trade off exists
between efficiency and brightness for these tricomponent devices when
the ion concentration is increased. Efficient device (device 3, maximum
efficiency = 0.43 cdA–1) was the one with low amount
of ions, whereas the bright one (device 5, maximum brightness = 585
cdm–2) had high ion concentrations. However, the
performances of all of the tricomponent devices were reasonably high
in comparison to their single component devices. In addition, modulation
of charge transfer band was found feasible for these investigated
molecules by switching the linking position, which provides us with
an imperative clue to design ideal blue emitters for LEC applications
incorporating pyrene and phenanthroimidazole units.