Synthesis, photophysical and charge-transporting properties of a novel asymmetric indolo [3,2-b]carbazole derivative containing benzothiazole and diphenylamino moieties

• A novel asymmetric indolo[3,2-b]carbazole compound was synthesized.
• The compound contains benzothiazole and diphenylamino moieties.
• The compound has strong intramolecular charge transfer character.
• The compound can be served as an excellent hole-transporting material in OLEDs.

A novel asymmetric donor–π-donor–π-acceptor compound, 2-benzothiazolyl-8-diphenylamino-5,11-dihexylindolo[3,2-b]carbazole (BDDAICZ), has been successfully synthesized by introducing a benzothiazole moiety (as an electron-acceptor) and a diphenylamino moiety (as an electron-donor) to 2-position and 8-position of indolo[3,2-b]carbazole moiety (as a skeleton and an electron-donor), and characterized by elemental analysis, 1H NMR, 13C NMR and MS. The thermal, electrochemical properties of BDDAICZ were characterized by thermogravimetric analysis combined with electrochemistry. The absorption and emission spectra of BDDAICZ was experimentally determined in several solvents and computed using density functional theory (DFT) and time-dependent density functional theory (TDDFT). The calculated absorption and emission wavelengths are coincident with the measured data. The ionization potential (IP), the electron affinity (EA) and reorganization energy of BDDAICZ were also investigated using density functional theory (DFT). Charge-transporting properties of BDDAICZ were characterized by OLEDs devices fabricated by using it as charge-transport layers. The results show that BDDAICZ has excellent thermal stability, electrochemical stability and hole-transporting properties, indicating its potential application as a hole-transporting material in OLEDs devices.

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