Electron-Rich Dipyrrolonaphthyridinediones: Synthesis and Optical Properties.

This article describes the design rationale for highly electron-rich dipyrrolonaphthyridinedione (DPND) derivatives bearing substituted amino groups at the 3 and 9 positions, which exhibit absorption in the red and emission in the red/NIR region of the spectrum. These novel dyes are easily synthesized through a two-step protocol consisting of bromination of the DPND molecule followed by Buchwald-Hartwig amination. We demonstrated that the diamino-dipyrrolonaphthyridinediones have high ionization energies (∼4.7 eV) and that the spectroelectrochemical properties can be rationally tuned by altering the nature of the peripheral substituted amino groups. All amino-DPNDs exhibit solvatofluorochromism, which has not been previously reported for dyes possessing this core. Theoretical calculations reveal that in all cases, the strongest absorption is exhibited by the S1 states which clearly correlate with the HOMO-LUMO orbital transition. As all higher states have lower oscillator strengths, it is clear that fluorescence is completely dominated by the excitation/deexcitation sequence S0 → S1, S1 → S0 and that there are no contributions to the fluorescence from excitations to higher states.