Substituent effects on the drift mobility of N, N, N', N'-tetraarylbenzidine derivatives have been investigated to obtain a molecular design guide to enhance drift mobility of the hole transport materials for organic photoconductors. In the case of introduction of alkyl group into N-substituted phenyl moiety, substitution at ortho or metha-position had little effect on drift mobility, while substitution at para-position doubled the drift mobility. These effects may be interpreted in terms of delocalization of electron density by σ-π conjugation and inhibition of the delocalization by steric hindrance. On the other hand, introduction of alkyl group into the central biphenyl skeleton at 3-position, which is ortho-position against nitrogen atom, caused to increase the drift mobility by a factor of two; that is contrary to expectation from the result mentioned above. The effect of alkyl substituents on drift mobility was found to be linearly related to the product of substituent constants, which are the increasing ratio of the drift mobility of the respective substitution position obtained empirically.
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