Triindolylmethane-based high triplet energy glass-forming electroactive molecular materials

A series of new triindolylmethane-based compounds including those containing reactive functional groups were synthesized by the tandem addition–elimination–(Michael) addition reaction from 1H-indole and 1H-indole-3-carbaldehyde. The thermal, optical, photophysical and photoelectrical properties of the synthesized compounds were studied. The synthesized compounds exhibit moderate thermal stability with 5% weight loss temperatures ranging from 245 to 310 °C and form glasses with glass transition temperatures in the range of 98–123 °C. The ionization potentials of the synthesized compounds measured by the electron photoemission in air technique range from 5.67 to 5.80 eV. The solutions of the synthesized compounds show relatively high triplet energies in the range from 2.97 to 2.99 eV.