Aggregation induced emission (AIE) active β-ketoiminate boron complexes: Synthesis, photophysical and electrochemical properties

•Synthesis of new benzoxa/thiazolyl-1,2-diaryl β-ketoiminate boron complexes.•The synthesized boron complexes show intense fluorescence in solid state.•All these complexes exhibit aggregation-induced emission characteristics.•The complexes show better electron affinity compare to Alq3 and BODIPY.

New keto-enol tautomeric benzoxazolyl and benzthiazolyl-1,2-diaryl β-ketoiminate based organoboron complexes have been synthesised and their fluorescence properties investigated. Boron complexes are widely known for their fluorescent properties, here we have synthesized organoboron complexes that show bright fluorescence in solid state and hardly any fluoresce in solution. These compounds exhibit aggregation induced emission (AIE) activity. Density functional theory (DFT) was employed for geometry optimisation and molecular orbital distribution computations in the ground state of the molecules. Electrochemical study demonstrates that these molecules possess high electron affinities as compared to the current electroluminescent materials like tris(8-hydroxyquinoli- nato)-aluminium (Alq3) and BODIPY, indicating the prospects of these boron complexes as an efficient emitters in the optoelectronics.

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