Resolving and Controlling Photoinduced Ultrafast Solvation in the Solid State.

Solid-state solvation (SSS) is a solid-state analogue of solvent-solute interactions in the liquid state. Although it could enable exceptionally fine control over the energetic properties of solid-state devices, its molecular mechanisms have remained largely unexplored. We use ultrafast transient absorption and optical Kerr effect spectroscopies to independently track and correlate both the excited-state dynamics of an organic emitter and the polarization anisotropy relaxation of a small polar dopant embedded in an amorphous polystyrene matrix. The results demonstrate that the dopants are able to rotationally reorient on ultrafast time scales following light-induced changes in the electronic configuration of the emitter, minimizing the system energy. The solid-state dopant-emitter dynamics are intrinsically analogous to liquid-state solvent-solute interactions. In addition, tuning the dopant/polymer pore ratio offers control over solvation dynamics by exploiting molecular-scale confinement of the dopants by the polymer matrix. Our findings will enable refined strategies for tuning optoelectronic material properties using SSS and offer new strategies to investigate mobility and disorder in heterogeneous solid and glassy materials.

Degradation of Hole Transport Materials via Exciton-Driven Cyclization.

Organic light-emitting diode (OLED) displays have been an active and intense area of research for well over a decade and have now reached commercial success for displays from cell phones to large format televisions. A more thorough understanding of the many different potential degradation modes which cause OLED device failure will be necessary to develop the next generation of OLED materials, improve device lifetime, and to ultimately improve the cost vs performance ratio. Each of the different organic layers in an OLED device can be susceptible to unique decomposition pathways, however stability toward excitons is critical for emissive layer (EML) materials as well as any layer near the recombination zone. This study will specifically focus on degradation modes within the hole transport layer (HTL) with the goal being to identify the general decomposition paths occurring in an operating device and use this information to design new derivatives which can block these pathways. Through post-mortem analyses of several aged OLED devices, an apparently common intramolecular cyclization pathway has been identified that was not previously reported for arylamine-containing HTL materials and that operates parallel to but faster than the previously described fragmentation pathways.

P-directed borylation of phenols.

Internal borylation occurs upon activation of aryl di-isopropylphosphinite boranes with HNTf(2) to give heterocyclic intermediates that can be reductively quenched to afford 6 or treated with KHF(2) to give the phenolic potassium aryl trifluoroborate salts 10. The latter salts are useful for Pd-catalyzed coupling with aryl iodides under Molander conditions, provided that precautions are taken to remove the KNTf(2) byproduct from the preceding KHF(2) step.

Azaaldol condensation of a lithium enolate solvated by N,N,N',N'-tetramethylethylenediamine: dimer-based 1,2-addition to imines.

The lithium enolate of tert-amylacetate solvated by N,N,N',N'-tetramethylethylenediamine (TMEDA) is shown to be a doubly chelated dimer. Adding the dimeric enolate to 4-fluorobenzaldehyde-N-phenylimine affords an N-lithiated ß-amino ester shown to be monomeric using (6)Li and (15)N NMR spectroscopies. Rate studies using (19)F NMR spectroscopy reveal reaction orders consistent with a transition structure of stoichiometry [(ROLi)2(TMEDA)2(imine)](‡). Density functional theory computations explore several possible dimer-based transition structures with monodentate and bidentate coordination of TMEDA. Supporting rate studies using trans-N,N,N',N'-1,2-tetramethylcyclohexanediamine showing analogous rates and rate law suggest that TMEDA is fully chelated.

Mechanistic variations in ionic hydrogenation of unsaturated phosphine and amine boranes.

Internal hydride transfer occurs when tethered carbocations are generated from unsaturated phosphine or phosphinite boranes. 3-Methylenecyclohexyl-derived boranes 12 or 18 react with MsOH to give ionic hydrogenation products with high syn-selectivity. With unsaturated amine boranes, initial hydrogen evolution gives BH(2)(OMs) complexes, but IH occurs using excess MsOH in a slower second stage. A diastereoselective reaction occurs from 26b using camphorsulfonic acid (first stage) and MsOH (second stage), affording 33 (68% ee) after hydrolysis.

Superelectrophilic intermediates in nitrogen-directed aromatic borylation.

The first examples of borylation under conditions of borenium ion generation from hydrogen-bridged boron cations are described. The observable H-bridged cations are generated by hydride abstraction from N,N-dimethylamine boranes Ar(CH(2))(n)NMe(2)BH(3) using Ph(3)C(+) (C(6)F(5))(4)B(-) (TrTPFPB) as the hydride acceptor. In the presence of excess TrTPFPB, the hydrogen-bridged cations undergo internal borylation to afford cyclic amine borane derivatives with n = 1-3. The products are formed as the corresponding cyclic borenium ions according to reductive quenching experiments and (11)B and (1)H NMR spectroscopy in the case with Ar = C(6)H(5) and n = 1. The same cyclic borenium cation is also formed from the substrate with Ar = o-C(6)H(4)SiMe(3) via desilylation, but the analogous system with Ar = o-C(6)H(4)CMe(3) affords a unique cyclization product that retains the tert-butyl substituent. An ortho-deuterated substrate undergoes cyclization with a product-determining isotope effect of k(H)/k(D) 2.8. Potential cationic intermediates have been evaluated using B3LYP/6-31G* methods. The computations indicate that internal borylation from 14a occurs via a C-H insertion transition state that is accessible from either the borenium pi complex or from a Wheland intermediate having nearly identical energy. The Ar = o-C(6)H(4)SiMe(3) example strongly favors formation of the Wheland intermediate, and desilylation occurs via internal SiMe(3) migration from carbon to one of the hydrides attached to boron.

Lithium phenolates solvated by tetrahydrofuran and 1,2-dimethoxyethane: structure determination using the method of continuous variation.

The method of continuous variation in conjunction with (6)Li NMR spectroscopy was used to characterize lithium phenolates solvated by tetrahydrofuran and 1,2-dimethoxyethane. The strategy relies on the formation of ensembles of homo- and heteroaggregated phenolates. The symmetries and concentration dependencies of the heteroaggregates attest to the aggregation numbers of the homoaggregates. The structurally diverse phenols afford substrate- and solvent-dependent combinations of lithium phenolate monomers, dimers, trimers, tetramers, and pentamers. We discuss the refinement of protocols for characterizing O-lithiated species. Computational studies examine further the substituent and solvent dependencies of aggregation.