Synthesis, spectroscopy, and electrochemistry of ionic hosts for organic electronics

•New charge- and ion-transport ionic hosts.•The hosts are imidazolium-cation-modified heterocycle chromophores.•The hosts exhibit high-energy optical gap and a wide redox gap.

We report on charge- and ion-transport ionic hosts made from an imidazolium-cation-modified aryl-1,2,4-triazole, phosphineoxide-carbazole, and phosphineoxide. The hosts are white solids that have short-wavelength absorption cut-off at <355 nm (high-energy optical gap of >28,200 cm−1) and that exhibit oxidation at <1.44 V and reduction at >(−2.75) V against ferrocene with a wide redox gap of >3.9 V.

Graphical abstractFigure optionsDownload full-size imageDownload as PowerPoint slide