Reduction of 4-azidonaphthalimide with different phosphine ligands and exploration of their spectroscopic properties

• The reduction of 4-azidonaphthalimide to 4-aminonaphthalimide by using PMe3 ligand.
• 4-Substituted 1,8-naphthalimide iminophosphoranes were successfully synthesized.
• Their optical properties could be tuned by different phosphine ligands.

A convenient, high efficient method for the reduction of 4-azidonaphthalimide to 4-aminonaphthalimide (1) by using PMe3 has been developed. Several 4-substituted 1,8-naphthalimide iminophosphoranes were also successfully synthesized. Their structures were characterized by NMR and MS analyses. The structures of compounds 2 and 3 were also confirmed by single crystal X-ray diffraction analysis. Their optoelectronic properties of these naphthalimides were investigated. The results indicated that their optical properties could be tuned by different phosphine ligands, which make them novel potential organic luminescent materials.

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