Blue luminescence of poly[1-phenyl-5-(α-naphthoxy)pentyne]

A disubstituted polyacetylene with naphthalene pendant (–{(C₆H₅)CC[(CH₂)₃ONap]}_n–), Nap=1-napthyl; (1) was synthesized. Upon photoexcitation, THF solutions of (1) emitted strong blue light of 460 nm, whose quantum efficiency is comparable to that of poly(1-phenyl-1-octyne), a well-known highly emissive disubstituted polyacetylene. Little shift was observed in the luminescence spectra of the thin solid films of (1). An electroluminescence device with a configuration of ITO/(1):PVK/bathocuproine/Alq₃/LiF/Al was constructed, which emitted blue light of 468 nm with a maximum brightness of 955 cd/m² and a power efficiency of 0.18 lm/W.