Synthesis and characterization of N-carbazole end-capped oligofluorene-thiophenes

A series of novel N-carbazole end-capped oligofluorene-thiophenes with one, two, three, and four thiophene rings were synthesized using either palladium catalyzed cross-coupling reaction or nickel-catalyzed reductive dimerization. All the oligomers have been characterized by 1H, 13C NMR, FTIR, UV–vis, PL spectroscopy and mass spectrometry. It has been demonstrated that the optical, thermal, and electrochemical properties of these materials can be tuned by varying the conjugation length of the oligothiophene segment. The terminal carbazole and fluorene moieties of the resulting materials are beneficial for their morphology, conjugation length, and solubility. These bright fluorescent, thermally and electrochemically stable compounds have potential applications as light-emitting and hole-transporting layers in organic light-emitting devices.