Macromolecules, Vol. 36, No. 18, 2003
Blue-Light-Emitting Diodes from Polyfluorene 6699
(4,4,5,5-tetramethyl-1,3,2-dioxaborolan-2-yl)-9,9-dioctylfluo-
rene (5)18 were synthesized according to literature procedures.
9,9-Bis(4-d i(4-b u t ylp h en yl)a m in op h en yl)-2,7-d ib r o-
m oflu or en e (3). To a mixture of 2,7-dibromofluorenone (315
mg, 930 µmol) and 4,4′-dibutyltriphenylamine (1.0 g, 2.8 mmol)
was added methanesulfonic acid (60 µL, 0.93 mmol). The
reaction mixture was then heated at 140 °C under nitrogen
for 12 h. The cooled mixture was diluted with dichloromethane
and washed with aqueous sodium carbonate. The organic
phase was dried over MgSO4, and the solvent was evaporated.
The crude product was purified by column chromatography,
eluting with hexane/ethyl acetate (8:2), followed by recrystal-
lization from acetone to afford 3 (0.50 g, 52%) as white crystals.
1H NMR (300 MHz, CDCl3): δ 0.91 (12 H, t, J ) 7.4 Hz), 1.34
(8 H, m), 1.56 (8 H, m), 2.54 (8 H, t, J ) 7.7 Hz), 6.84 (4 H, d,
J ) 8.7 Hz), 6.94 (4 H, d, J ) 8.7 Hz), 6.97 (8 H, d, J ) 8.4
Hz), 7.03 (8 H, d, J ) 8.4 Hz), 7.44 (2 H, dd, J ) 8.1, 1.5 Hz),
7.50 (2 H, d, J ) 1.5 Hz), 7.54 (2 H, d, J ) 8.1 Hz). 13C NMR
(75 MHz, CDCl3): δ 153.7, 147.1, 145.2, 137.9, 137.7, 136.6,
130.7, 129.4, 129.1, 128.5, 124.8, 121.7, 121.6, 121.4, 64.6, 35.0,
33.6, 22.4, 14.0. Anal. Calcd for C65H66Br2N2: C, 75.43; H, 6.43;
N, 2.71. Found: C, 75.41; H, 6.56; N, 2.25.
Sch em e 1
P F -TP A-OXD. To a solution of 3 (161 mg, 156 µmol), 4 (137
mg, 156 µmol), and 5 (200.0 mg, 312 µmol) in toluene (4.0 mL)
were added aqueous potassium carbonate (2.0 M, 4.0 mL) and
aliquate (20 mg). The above solution was degassed, and
tetrakis(triphenylphosphine)palladium (10 mg, 5.5 mol %) was
added in one portion under a nitrogen atmosphere. The
solution was refluxed under nitrogen for 3 days. The end
groups were capped by refluxing for 12 h each with phenyl-
boronic acid (40 mg, 0.33 mmol) and bromobenzene (52 mg,
0.33 mmol). After this period, the mixture was cooled and
poured into a mixture of methanol and water (150 mL, 7:3
v/v). The crude polymer was filtered, washed with excess
methanol, and dried. The polymer was dissolved in CHCl3 (2.0
mL), filtered, and precipitated into methanol (150 mL). The
precipitate was collected, washed with acetone for 24 h using
a Soxhlet apparatus, and dried under vacuum to give PF-TPA-
OXD (270 mg, 73%). 1H NMR (300 MHz, CDCl3): δ 0.69-0.75
(20 H, m), 0.89 (12 H, t, J ) 7.5 Hz), 1.02-1.19 (40 H, m),
1.24-1.40 (26 H, m), 1.57 (8 H, m), 2.04 (8 H, m), 2.54 (8 H,
m), 6.89-7.16 (24 H, m), 7.51-7.84 (30 H, m), 7.93-8.11 (1
0H, m). 13C NMR (75 MHz, CDCl3): δ 164.8, 164.1, 155.4,
152.9, 151.9, 151.8, 150.9, 149.3, 146.8, 145.4, 141.9, 141.1,
140.4, 140.3, 139.8, 139.1, 138.9, 138.6, 137.6, 129.1, 129.0,
128.9, 127.7, 127.4, 127.3, 126.8, 126.3, 126.1, 124.7, 123.0,
121.9, 121.4, 121.1, 120.9, 120.4, 120.1. 65.9, 64.8, 55.4, 40.4,
35.2, 35.1, 33.7, 31.8, 31.2, 30.0, 29.2, 23.9, 22.6, 22.4, 14.1,
14.0. Anal. Calcd for C172H186N6O2: C, 87.19; H, 7.91; N, 3.55.
Found: C, 86.27; H, 7.73; N, 3.11.
ylanthracene (ca. 5 × 10-6 M solution in cyclohexane, Φf )
0.9).19 The solid-state fluorescence yields were determined by
comparing the fluorescence of the respective polymer films (λexc
) 375 nm) with the film of 9,10-diphenylanthracene in poly-
(methyl methacrylate) (10-3 M) on quartz substrates. Cyclic
voltammetry measurements of the polymer films were per-
formed on a BAS 100 B/W electrochemical analyzer in aceto-
nitrile with 0.1 M tetrabutylammonium hexafluorophosphate
(TBAPF6) as the supporting electrolyte at a scan rate of 50
mV/s. The potentials were measured against an Ag/Ag+ (0.01
M AgNO3) reference electrode with ferrocene as the internal
standard. The onset potentials were determined from the
intersection of two tangents drawn at the rising current and
background current of the cyclic voltammogram.
Device F a br ica tion a n d Testin g. The devices were
fabricated on ITO substrates that had been ultrasonicated
sequentially in detergent, methanol, 2-propanol, and acetone
and had been treated with O2 plasma for 10 min before use.
All the evaporation of the metal electrodes was carried out in
a vacuum evaporator inside an argon atmosphere drybox. A
hole-injecting layer, PEDOT (Bayer Corp.), was spin-coated
at a spin rate of 4000 rpm from its water solution (1.3 wt %)
onto the ITO substrates and cured at 160 °C for 10 min under
nitrogen. Then a layer of copolymer was spin-coated from its
toluene solution (2 wt %) at 1600 rpm. The thickness of the
films was measured on a Sloan Dektak 3030 surface profilo-
meter. The thickness of PEDOT was about 30 nm, and the
thickness of the polymer layer was around 60 nm. A layer of
30 nm thick calcium (Ca) cathode was then vacuum-deposited
at below 1 × 10-6 Torr through a mask, and another protecting
layer of 120 nm thick silver (Ag) was vacuum-deposited. The
device testing was carried out in air at room temperature.
Current-voltage characteristics were measured on a Hewlett-
Packard 4155B semiconductor parameter analyzer. The power
of EL emission was measured using a Newport 2835-C
multifunction optical meter. Photometric units (cd/m2) were
calculated using the forward output power and the EL spectra
of the devices, assuming Lambertian distribution of the EL
emission.20
Ch a r a cter iza tion . 1H and 13C NMR spectra were recorded
on a Varian Unity 300 MHz or a Bruker-DRX 300 MHz
spectrometer. Mass spectra were obtained on a J EOL J MS-
SX/SX 102A mass spectrometer. Size exclusion chromatogra-
phy (SEC) was carried out on a Waters chromatography unit
interfaced to a Waters 410 differential refractometer. Three 5
µm Waters styragel columns (300 × 7.8 mm) connected in
series in the decreasing order of pore size (104, 103, and 102 Å)
were used with THF as eluent, and standard polystyrene
samples were used for calibration. Differential scanning cal-
orimetry (DSC) was performed on a SEIKO EXSTAR 6000
DSC unit using a heating rate of 10 °C min-1 and a cooling
rate of 30 °C min-1. Samples were scanned from 30 to 350 °C
and then cooled to 30 °C and scanned for second time from 30
to 350 °C. Glass transition temperatures (Tg) were determined
from the second heating scan. Thermogravimetric analysis
(TGA) was made on a Du Pont TGA 2950 instrument. The
thermal stability of the samples was determined under
nitrogen by measuring weight loss while heating at a rate of
20 °C min-1. UV-vis spectra were measured with a HP 8453
diode array spectrophotometer. Photoluminescence spectra
were obtained on a Hitachi F-4500 luminescence spectrometer.
The PL quantum yield (Φf) in toluene solution was measured
by excitation of the respective polymer solutions at 365 nm
and compared with the solution emission of the 9,10-diphen-
Resu lts a n d Discu ssion
P olym er Syn th esis a n d Ch a r a cter iza tion . As
shown in Scheme 1, the TPA monomer 3 was synthe-
sized by an acid-catalyzed condensation reaction be-
tween 2,7-dibromofluorenone (1)16 and 4,4′-dibutyltri-
phenylamine (2).17 This method resembles the similar
procedure that was used recently by Mullen et al. to
introduce triphenylamine groups onto the C-9 position
of fluorene.12 The OXD monomer 4 was prepared as