Quinoline Substituted Anthracene Isomers: A Case Study for Simultaneously Optimizing High Mobility and Strong...

The development of high mobility emissive organic semiconductors is significant for advancing optoelectronic devices with simplified architecture and enhanced performance. The herringbone-packed structure is regarded as the ideal arrangement for simultaneously achieving high mobility and strong emission in organic semiconductors. However, it remains a great challenge that the relationship between molecular structure and optoelectronic property is still elusive. Herein, four quinoline-substituted anthracene isomers were designed and synthesized by introducing quinoline groups to anthracene core. Their intermolecular interactions and packing mode in the herringbone-packed structures were regularly tuning by subtle changing the nitrogen position on quinoline group, resulting in the superior integration of optoelectronic properties. Through a comprehensive analysis of aggregation states and optoelectronic properties, we revealed that in herringbone-packed aggregates, a centroid distance of approximately 7-7.5 Å along CH-π direction and 6-6.5 Å along π-π direction is beneficial for simultaneously achieving high mobility and strong emission. These properties are closely related to the molecular twist angles, which are influenced by intramolecular interactions. This structure-property relationship has been further validated in other herringbone-packed high mobility emissive organic semiconductors, demonstrating its broad applicability and universal potential. This work figures out the practical molecular design principle for high mobility emissive organic semiconductors.