Synthesis and fluorescence characterization of MEHPPV oligomers.

Trimer, tetramer, and pentamer oligomers based on the polymer backbone structure of poly[2-methoxy-5-(2'-ethylhexyloxy)-1,4-phenylenevinylene] (MEHPPV) have been synthesized by Horner-Wadsworth-Emmons reactions. The fluorescence spectra, emission quantum yields, and lifetimes of the oligomers have been characterized in dilute chloroform solutions. The oligomers exhibit a sequential increase in absorption and emission wavelength maxima and a decrease in fluorescence lifetime as the π conjugation length is increased. The shortening in excited state lifetime is shown to be due to an increase in the rates of both radiative and nonradiative processes. The absence of a mirror-image relationship for the absorption and fluorescence spectra of the oligomers is attributed to the photoexcitation of a range of torsional configurations followed by relaxation to a more planar arrangement that then emits.

Manifestations of the Alder-Rickert reaction in the structures of bicyclo[2.2.2]octadiene and bicyclo[2.2.2]octene derivatives.

The Alder-Rickert ethylene extrusion reaction manifests in the ground state structures of compounds 9-12 which contain the bicyclo[2.2.2]octadiene moiety and compounds 13, 14, and 17-20 which contain the bicyclo[2.2.2]octene moiety. A significant decrease of the 13C-13C one-bond coupling constants for the C-C bonds, which break in this fragmentation reaction, suggests lengthening, and hence weakening of these bonds. In the unsymmetrical systems these effects are also shown to be associated with strengthening of the CH2-CH2 bond, which is ultimately lost from the molecule as ethylene. Low-temperature crystal structures of compounds 9-12 and 16 provide evidence for similar crystal packing requirements of the CH2-CH2 and CH=CH moieties.