Thiol-ene-clickable and emissive carbazole-based polymer networks with tunable colors

Band gap tuning and processability of organic materials are significant topics for both scientific research and commercial applications. In this study, we synthesized a series of main chain cross-linkable polymers by thiol-ene click chemistry from N-allyl carbazole and different heterocycles via conventional Suzuki coupling polymerization reaction. The emission color of polymers could be successfully tuned from blue to red by attaching different benzazole-acceptor moieties to the carbazole donor unit. We also investigated the effects of cross-linking with respect to the amount of pentaerythritol tetrakis(3-mercaptopropionate) cross-linker on the optical, electrochemical, and surface morphological properties of the polymer films. The results showed that these polymers can be used as emissive active layers in solution-processable multilayer organic light-emitting diodes.