Silicon-cored anthracene derivatives as host materials for highly efficient blue organic light-emitting devices

The synthesis and full characterization of a latest series of silicone-cored anthracene derivatives such as ATSA, PATSPA, and NATSNA, as blue host materials for organic light emitting devices (OLEDs) along with quantum chemical calculations were carried out. Density functional theory calculations were also performed to characterize the three-dimensional geometries and the frontier molecular orbital energy levels of the derivatives. Highly efficient blue-light emitting diodes were developed by doping the host materials with the blue fluorescent dopant DPAVBi. It was found that the non-coplanar molecular structure resulting from the tetrahedral environment of the central tetraphenylsilane core and the aryl-substitution group of the anthracene units provided steric hindrance that prevents close packing of the molecules in the solid state. The compounds also demonstrated bright blue emission with high color purity and high efficiency.