title: Three-coordinate organoboron with a B=N bond: substituent effects, luminescence/electroluminescence and reactions with fluoride.
abstract: Five new three-coordinate boron compounds with a B=N bond involving an indole or a substituted indole ligand including B(mesityl)2(indolyl), (1), B(mesityl)2(2-Me-indolyl), (2), B(mesityl)2(3-Me-indolyl), (3), B(mesityl)2 (7-Me-indolyl), (4), and B(mesityl)2(3-Ph-indolyl), (5) have been synthesized. The structures of these new compounds were determined by X-ray diffraction analyses. All five compounds are luminescent involving a charge transfer transition between the indolyl pi orbital and the boron p(pi) orbital. The substituent group on the indolyl ring was found to have a subtle impact on the electronic properties of compounds. NMR experiments established that the methyl group at the 7-position of indole is most effective in blocking the rotation of the mesityl group around the B-C bond. The addition of fluoride ions to this group of compounds causes luminescent quenching and an irreversible decomposition of the compounds due to the reaction of the F- adduct with water molecules. The potential use of this group of compounds as blue emitters in electroluminescent (EL) devices was demonstrated by the successful fabrication of a four-layer EL device where 1 was used as the emitter. The EL device displays a blue emission with a maximum luminescence being 1037 cd m(-2) and a maximum current efficiency about 0.7 cd A(-1) at 5 V.
authors.affiliation: Department of Chemistry, Queen's University, Kingston, Ontario K7L 3N6, Canada.
authors.forename: Yi
authors.initials: Y
authors.lastname: Cui
authors.forename: Fenghong
authors.initials: F
authors.lastname: Li
authors.forename: Zheng-Hong
authors.initials: ZH
authors.lastname: Lu
authors.forename: Suning
authors.initials: S
authors.lastname: Wang