9,10-Bis(3′,5′-diphenylphenyl)anthracene [MAM], 9-(3′,5′-diphenylphenyl)-10-(3‴,5‴-diphenylbiphenyl-4″-yl)anthracene [MAT], and 9,10-bis(3″,5″-diphenylbiphenyl-4′-yl)anthracene [TAT] were newly synthesized through boration and Suzuki aryl–aryl coupling reactions. We have demonstrated that the EL performance of blue-light emitters can be optimized and improved by varying the chemical structures of the side groups. In the thin film state, the three materials exhibit PL_max values in the range of 439–445 nm. MAM, MAT, and TAT all have high T_g values above 120 °C; TAT has the highest T_g value, above 150 °C. This is twice as high as that of DPVBi (64 °C) and is much higher than that of MADN (120 °C) as well. It also exhibits excellent color coordinates (0.156, 0.088), which are very close to the NTSC blue standard, and an external quantum efficiency of 7.18%, twice that of MADN, which are the best reported results for deep-blue OLED emitters.

We describe two novel blue emission materials based on a new type of dual core concept. 1-Phenyl-6-(10-phenyl-anthracen-9-yl)-pyrene (Ph-AP-Ph) and 1-[1,1′;3′,1′′]terphenyl-5′-yl-6-(10-[1,1′;3′,1′′]terphenyl-5′-yl-anthracen-9-yl)-pyrene (TP-AP-TP) were synthesized through boronylation and Suzuki coupling reactions. The T_g values of Ph-AP-Ph and TP-AP-TP were 228 °C and 243 °C, respectively, compared to values of 135 °C and 139 °C for the single core materials 9-(3′,5′-diphenylphenyl)-10-(3′′′,5′′′-diphenylbiphenyl-4′′-yl)anthracene (MAM) and 1,6-bis-[1,1′;3′,1′′]terphenyl-5′-yl-pyrene (TP-P-TP). One of the dual core derivatives, TP-AP-TP, exhibited an EL_max value of 456 nm and a high luminance EQE of 7.51% when used in an EL device. The dual core chromophore materials had narrower PL and EL spectra and better thermal properties than the single core chromophore materials. A device based on TP-AP-TP showed twice the lifetime of a device based on the commercialized material, 2-methyl-9,10-bis(naphthalen-2-yl)anthracene (MADN).