Highly Luminescent π-Conjugated Terpyridine Derivatives Exhibiting Thermally Activated Delayed Fluorescence

Typically, luminescent π-conjugated 2,2':6',2''-terpyridine (tpy) derivatives are versatile components for tridentate metal ligands, supramolecular materials, two-photon absorption bioimaging probes, fluorescent ion sensors, and organic light-emitting devices. However, a limited number of luminescent tpy materials, other than metal complexes, have been reported. This study introduces a series of π-conjugated tpy derivatives that exhibit strong thermally activated delayed fluorescence (TADF). We have observed that a blue tpy emitter outperforms conventional fluorescent emitters. Additionally, a green tpy emitter has exhibited a performance that is almost comparable to that of its green phosphorescent counterparts, realizing an external quantum efficiency close to 25 % and a power efficiency exceeding 80 lm W^-1 with an exceptionally low efficiency roll-off. This study demonstrates the first example of highly luminescent tpy-based TADF emitters.