Introduction of a Chiral Biphenanthrene-Diol Unit to Achieve Circularly Polarized Thermally Activated Delayed Fluorescence

Abstract

Circularly polarized luminescence (CPL) materials are promising candidates for future display technology. However, such highly efficient emitters suffer from the issues of difficult chiral separation and low photoluminescence quantum yield (PLQY). In this work, the chiral 4,4′-biphenanthrene-3,3′-diol (BIPOL) unit was introduced into a thermally activated delayed fluorescence (TADF) framework for the first time. We presented two series of enantiomers, R/S-o-DCzBPNCN and R/S-p-DCzBPNCN, and the synthesis of enantiopure BIPOL can be prepared via normal column chromatography. Notably, o-DCzBPNCN showed narrow singlet-triplet gap of 0.05 eV, efficient TADF, and high PLQYs of 82 % in doped films. In addition, R/S-o-DCzBPNCN exhibited high luminescence dissymmetry factor (gPL) values of −1.94×10−2/+1.91×10−2 in doped films. The strategy of BIPOL introduction offers a new approach to organic emitters with stereospecific synthesis, TADF, and chiroptical properties.