Synthesis, structures and electrochemical and photophysical properties of anilido-benzoxazole boron difluoride (ABB) complexes.

A new series of four-ring-fused π-conjugated anilido-benzoxazole boron difluoride (ABB) dyes were synthesized by employing an unsymmetrical bidentate ligand under a mild reaction condition. X-ray structural analysis demonstrated that the four-ring-fused π-conjugated skeleton is nearly coplanar, and almost orthogonal to the side anilido phenyl group with dihedral angles of 74-86°. The synthesized complexes exhibit very bright luminescence in solution (Φf = 0.