Influence of the meso-substituent on strongly red emitting phenanthrene-fused boron–dipyrromethene (BODIPY) fluorophores with a propeller-like conformation

Abstract Highly emissive phenanthrene-fused boron–dipyrromethene (PBDP) dyes have been spectroscopically characterized in a series of solvents. The influence of different substituents (−H, −I, −CN, −DMA or a 15C5-crown ether) in the para -position of a phenyl ring attached to the meso -position of the BODIPY core is discussed. This family of dyes has an intense emission at λ  ≥ 630 nm, with fluorescence quantum yields between 0.7 and 1.0 in all solvents studied, except in the case of the dimethylamino-substituted derivative, PBDP-DMA , which undergoes excited-state intramolecular charge transfer (CT), leading to broadband dual fluorescence in highly polar solvents. Introduction of a weaker electron donor such as a benzocrown to the meso -position is not able to trigger a second (charge or electron transfer) process and, interestingly, heavy atom (iodine, PBDP-I derivative) substitution at that moiety does also not have a relevant influence on the photophysics, i.e., enhanced intersystem crossing was not observed. Electrochemical studies of PBDP-DMA complement the data reported and stress the fact that the decrease in fluorescence of PBDP-DMA in highly polar solvents is due to an excited-state CT process rather than to a photoinduced electron transfer (PET).