Blue fluorescent conductive poly(9,10‐di(1‐naphthalenyl)‐2‐vinylanthracene) homopolymer and its highly soluble copolymers with styrene or 9‐vinylcarbazole

A new blue fluorescent monomer, 9,10‐di(1‐naphthalenyl)‐2‐vinylanthracene, was designed and synthesized in good yield. Its homopolymer poly(9,10‐di(1‐naphthalenyl)‐2‐vinylanthracene) (P(ADN)) and soluble conductive vinyl copolymers poly[(9,10‐di(1‐naphthalenyl)‐2‐vinylanthracene)‐co‐styrene] (P(ADN‐co‐S)) and poly[(9,10‐di(1‐naphthalenyl)‐2‐vinylanthracene)‐co‐(9‐vinylcarbazole)] (P(ADN‐co‐VK)) were synthesized using free radical solution polymerization. All the polymers showed high glass transition mid‐point temperatures (203 to 237 °C) and good thermal stabilities. The photoluminescence emission of the copolymers was similar to that of P(ADN) (with two maxima at 423 and 442 nm). The lifetimes of P(ADN‐co‐S) (6.82 to 7.91 ns) were all slightly less than that of P(ADN) (8.40 ns). The lifetime of P(ADN‐co‐VK) increased from 7.8 to 8.8 ns with an increase in VK content. The fluorescence quantum yields of P(ADN‐co‐S) showed an overall increasing tendency from 0.42 to 0.58. The quantum efficiencies of P(ADN‐co‐VK) decreased from 0.36 to 0.19 with an increase of VK fraction. With increasing S/VK content, the highest occupied molecular orbital of P(ADN‐co‐S)/P(ADN‐co‐VK) ranged from ?5.58 to ?5.73 eV, which was similar to that of P(ADN) (?5.71 eV). The band gaps of P(ADN‐co‐S) and P(ADN‐co‐VK) were about 2.97 eV, which were equal to that of P(ADN), and smaller than that of 2‐methyl‐9,10‐di(1‐naphthalenyl)anthracene (MADN) (3.04 eV) and poly(9‐vinylcarbazole) (3.54 eV). Preliminary electroluminescence results were obtained for a homojunction device with the configuration ITO/MoO₃ (20 nm)/P(ADN)/LiF (1 nm)/Al (100 nm), which achieved only 30–50 cd m^?2, due to P(ADN) having a low mobility of 4.7 × 10^?8 cm² V^?1 s^?1 compared to that of its model compound MADN of 6.5 × 10^?4 cm² V^?1 s^?1. © 2013 Society of Chemical Industry