Synthesis and Photophysical Properties of 2-Donor-7-acceptor-9-silafluorenes: Remarkable Fluorescence Solvatochromism and Highly Efficient Fluorescence in Doped Polymer Films

Recently, π-conjugated molecules containing a 9-silafluorene moiety have attracted considerable attention owing to their potential applications in organic electronics. While most studies focus on the oligomers and (co)polymers of 9-silafluorenes, functionalized 9-silafluorenes themselves remain unexplored. In this paper, we describe the preparation, photophysical properties, and theoretical calculations of 2-amino-7-acceptor-9-silafluorenes and we show that these silafluorenes can potentially be used as novel chromophores for functional organic materials. The D-π-A type silafluorenes were prepared by Pd-catalyzed intramolecular coupling of 2-(3-aminophenyldiisopropylsilyl)aryl triflates and the subsequent functional group conversion through reduction of the cyano group to a formyl and Knoevenagel condensation of the formyl group with malonitrile. The UV−visible absorption and fluorescence spectra of the D-π-A type silafluorenes exhibited a red-shift when the electron-withdrawing nature of the acceptor inc...