Design of Highly Fluorescent Excited-State Intramolecular Proton Transfer-Type Emitters and Their Luminescent Properries in Liquid Crystals

Abstract

Excited-State Intramolecular Proton Transfer (ESIPT) is a process in which photoexcited molecules relax their energy through tautomerization by transfer of protons, resulting in the emission with a large Stokes shift from the tautomeric excited species. We have developed highly fluorescent ESIPT luminophores as a dopant for nematic LCs and disclosed their important properties-(i) high miscibility in host LCs, (ii) high fluorescent quantum yield over the visible region in host LCs, (iii) absorption window in visible region, (iv) lack of self-absorption, (v) lack of aggregation-cased emission quenching. The molecular design strategy and photophysical properties in LCs will be discussed in this lecture.