Carbazolyl-substituted quinazolinones as high-triplet-energy materials for phosphorescent organic light emitting diodes

Abstract

A series of carbazolyl-substituted quinazolinones were designed and synthesized by the Pd-catalyzed Buchwald-Hartwig, Suzuki and Heck cross-coupling reactions. Their optical, photophysical, thermal, electrochemical, and electroluminescent properties were investigated. The characterization of the synthesized compounds was carried out using experimental and theoretical methods. The determined geometries of the compounds lead to the HOMO distribution on the quinazolinone moiety and the different donor substituents. The synthesized compounds form glasses with the glass transition temperatures ranging from 97 to 159 °C. Their solutions in tetrahydrofuran absorb electromagnetic radiation in the range of 210–420 nm and emit in the range of 350–600 nm. The Stokes shifts recorded for the dilute solutions of compounds ranged from 48 to 134 nm, while those observed for the solid films were similarly in the range of 46–113 nm. The highest fluorescence quantum yield of 44.3% was recorded for the solution of 3-(9-ethyl-9H-carbazol-3-yl)-5-((E)-2-(9-ethyl-9H-carbazol-3-yl)ethenyl)-2-methylquinazolin-4(3H)-one. The triplet energy levels established for the dilute solutions of the compounds from their phosphorescence spectra at 77 K were found to be in the range of 2.55–2.99 eV. The ionization potentials of the synthesized compounds established by photoelectron emission technique in air ranged from 5.35 to 5.66 eV. The electrochemical properties of the derivatives were studied by cyclic voltammetry. All the studied compounds showed irreversible oxidation and no reduction waves. Their repeated cyclic voltammetry scans displayed increasing changes in the cyclic voltammetry traces, proving that a series of electro-polymerization reactions of the radical cations occurred. Time-of-flight hole drift mobility of the solid layer of 5-(bis(4-tert-butyldiphenyl)amino)-3-(9-ethyl-9H-carbazol-3-yl)-2-methylquinazolin-4(3H)-one reached 1.1 × 10−3 cm2/Vs at an electric field of 8.1 × 105 V/cm. This compound was tested as a host in the green and blue phosphorescent organic light emitting diodes achieving maximum external quantum efficiencies of ca. 7.1 and 6.9%, respectively.