Pure Blue Emitting Poly(3,6-dimethoxy-9,9-dialkylsilafluorenes) Prepared via Nickel-Catalyzed Cross-Coupling of Diarylmagnesate Monomers

Abstract

Polysilafluorenes (PSFs) are an important class of light-emitting conjugate polymers noted for their characteristic brilliant solid state blue luminescence, high quantum efficiency, excellent solubility, and improved thermal stability. These polymers are also reported to have superior electron conductivity to polyfluorenes. The higher electron affinity and conductivity, which are particularly promising for OLEDs, originate from σ*−π* conjugation between the σ* antibonding orbital of the exocyclic Si–C bond and the π* antibonding orbital of the butadiene fragment. In this paper, we present the synthesis and thorough characterization of several new derivatives of 2,7-dibromo-3,6-dimethoxy-9,9-dialkylsilafluorene monomers and demonstrate an efficient room temperature route to their polymerization. In addition to silafluorene monomers with simple alkyl side chains, we have increased the functionality of several of our monomers by incorporating vinyl, cyclohexenyl, and norbornenyl moieties into their side chai...