The development of corannulene-based blue emitters

Novel blue emitters were synthesized based on the fullerene fragment corannulene. 1,2- bis(corannulenylethynyl)benzene and 1,4-bis(corannulenylethynyl)benzene were designed, synthesized, and shown to exhibit significant red shifts in their absorption spectra as compared to that of the parent corannulene. Photoluminescence studies show both 1,2- bis(corannulenylethynyl)benzene and 1,4- bis(corannulenylethynyl)benzene gives enhanced blue luminescence compared to the parent corannulene structure. 1,4-bis(corannulenylethynyl)benzene was observed to give intense blue luminescence when excited at 400 nm. DFT and TD-DFT calculations were performed and shown to be consistent with the observed experimental results.