Suzuki-Miyaura coupling reaction: Blue-yellow emitting AIE active dyes for organic electronics

A series of eight novel donor‒acceptor (D─A) based 2,3-di(thiophen-2-yl)quinoxaline derivatives 2–9 were prepared by modulating donor species on quinoxaline core with Palladium catalyzed Suzuki–Miyaura ‘C–C bond’ coupling reaction. The synthesized molecules were fully characterized and studied for impact of D–A interaction on opto-electrochemical properties. Absorption spectra of 2–9 display intramolecular charge transfer (ICT) transitions in the range of 388–414 nm. Dyes shows positive solvatochromism and emit in blue‒yellow region with emission maxima 444−550 nm on excitation at their respective ICT maxima in toluene, chloroform, DCM, DMSO and neat solid film. Further, solid state emission was studied for aggregation‒induced emission (AIE) effect in THF–water system due to the nanoparticles formation, as confirmed by FEG‒SEM technique. The HOMO and LUMO energy level for compounds 2–9 were measured by cyclic voltammetry and found in the range of −5.15 to −5.94 eV and −2.81 to −3.39 eV. Theoretical studies of molecules were also carried out by using DFT and TD‒DFT calculations. The comparable HOMO and LUMO energy levels with reported ambipolar materials and efficient solid-state emission make synthesized compounds potential candidate for solid state emissive, ambipolar charge transporting materials in organic electronics.