Novel red-emitting thieno-[3,4-b]-pyrazine derivatives suitable for vacuum evaporation and solution method to fabricate non-doped OLEDs

Two novel red-emitting thieno-[3,4-b]-pyrazine-cored molecules with phenyls (TP) or polyphenyls (Müllen type dendron, DTP) as peripheral groups were designed and synthesized. They have large Stokes shifts over 100 nm. DTP is thermally stable with decomposition temperature up to 458 °C. More importantly, it is amorphous with a remarkably high glass transition temperature of 262 °C. DTP can be made into thin films either by solution method or vacuum evaporation. Red OLEDs were fabricated using either spin coated or vacuum evaporated DTP film as emitting layer. The evaporated device exhibited a maximum brightness of 1753 cd m−2 and a luminous efficiency of 0.74 cd A−1, which are among the best data ever reported for thieno-[3,4-b]-pyrazine derivatives so far. In contrary, TP failed to produce satisfied red emission in its evaporated OLEDs.

► We report synthesis and properties of new thieno-[3,4-b]-pyrazine derivative.
► The bulky polyphenyls peripheral groups decorate the planar emissive core to form efficient solid emitters.
► Be suitable for both solution method and vacuum evaporation techniques to fabricate organic light-emitting diodes (OLEDs).
► The performance is the best ever reported for thieno-[3,4-b]-pyrazine derivatives.
► Potential red emitter for application in OLEDs.