Reduced Knoevenagel Reaction of Acetetracenylene-1,2-dione with Acceptor Units for Luminescent Tetracene Derivatives

Acetetracenylene-1,2-dione reacted with 3-ethylrhodanine in the presence of piperidine and Hantzsch ester via a Knoevenagel condensation-reduction sequence to give a tetracene-rhodanine adduct. This reduced Knoevenagel product exhibited magenta luminescence with a fluorescence quantum yield of = 0.34 and fluorescence lifetime of = 13.2 ns in toluene. Electrochemical studies and charge carrier transport measurements revealed ambipolar properties with hole and electron mobilities of 5.1 × 10 ^-7 and 1.6 × 10 ^-4 cm ² /(V s), respectively.