Synthetic study of tetramethyljulolidine—a key intermediate toward the synthesis of the red dopant DCJTB for OLED applications

The formation and characterization of a novel chiral sulfonic acid derivative obtained during the synthesis of 1,1,7,7-tetramethyljulolidine (TMJ), a key intermediate towards the red dopant 4-(dicyanomethylene)-2-t-butyl-6-(1,1,7,7-tetramethyljulolidyl-9-enyl)-4H-pyran (DCJTB) used for organic electroluminescent devices, upon bis-annulation of N,N-bis(4-methyl-2-butenyl)aniline is described.