2-Substituted vs 4-substituted-9,9′-spirobifluorene host materials for green and blue phosphorescent OLEDs: a structure-property relationship study

We report a structure-property relationship study of four 9,9'-spirobifluorene (SBF) derivatives (4-5Pm-SBF, 2-5Pm-SBF, 4-Ph-SBF and 2-Ph-SBF), substituted with either phenyl or pyrimidine at the C2 or C4 position of the SBF core. Structural, thermal, electrochemical and photophysical properties have been examined and correlated to theoretical calculations in order to study the influence of the nature and the position of the substituent. The emission properties of 4- versus 2-substituted SBFs are noticeably different highlighting, in the excited state, the remarkable effect of substitution in ortho position of SBF. All compounds have been used as host material for green dopant in PhOLEDs with very high performances (2-5Pm-SBF: CE>58 cd/A, PE>35 lm/W, EQE>14%). More importantly, the two 4-substituted SBFs have been used as host materials in blue PhOLEDs, displaying high performance and a decrease of V-TH for 4-5Pm-SBF due to the incorporation of the electron-withdrawing pyrimidine. (C) 2014 Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved.