Synthesis, Photophysical, and Electrochemical Properties of Pyrenes Substituted with Donors or Acceptors at the 4- or 4,9-Positions

We report herein an efficient and direct functionalization of the 4,9-positions of pyrene by Ir-catalyzed borylation. Three pinacol boronates (-Bpin), including 4-(Bpin)-2,7-di(tert-butyl)pyrene (5), 4,9-bis(Bpin)-2,7-di(tert-butyl)pyrene (6), and 4,10-bis(Bpin)-2,7-di(tert-butyl)pyrene (7), were synthesized. The structures of 6 and 7 have been confirmed by single-crystal X-ray diffraction. To demonstrate the utility of these compounds, donor (NPh2)-substituted compounds 4-diphenylamino-2,7-di(tert-butyl)pyrene (1) and 4,9-bis(diphenylamino)-2,7-di(tert-butyl)pyrene (2) have been synthesized on a gram scale. Acceptor (BMes2)-substituted compounds 4,9-bis(BMes2)pyrene (3) and 4,9-bis(BMes2)-1,2,3,6,7,8-hexahydropyrene (4) were synthesized for comparison. The photophysical and electrochemical properties of compounds 1–4 have been studied both experimentally and theoretically. The S0 → S1 transitions of the 4- or 4,9-disubstituted pyrenes, 1–3, are allowed, with moderate fluorescence quantum yields and radia...