Highly fluorescent naphthalimide derivatives for two-photon absorption materials

Abstract

Novel multi-branched naphthalimide derivatives (TPA-NA1, TPA-NA2, and TPA-NA3) were synthesized by the Sonogashira reaction of N-butyl-4-bromo-1,8- naphthalimide with mono-, di-, and tri-ethynylated triphenylamine. The fluorescence increases with the increase of branch number and the quantum yield is as high as 0.87 for TPA-NA3 in toluene. Two-photon absorption cross sections of TPA-NA1, TPA-NA2, and TPA-NA3 were determined to be 0.42 × 10 -20 cm4/ GW, 1.4 × 10-20 cm 4/GW and 1.0 × 10-20 cm4/GW (open aperture Z-scan, 120 fs, 780 nm), respectively. Copyright © 2005 The Chemical Society of Japan.