Synthesis, computational, and spectroscopic analysis of tunable highly fluorescent BN-1,2-azaborine derivatives containing the N-BOH moiety.

Nine new polycyclic aromatic BN-1,2-azaborine analogues containing the N-BOH moiety were synthesized using a convenient two-step, one-pot procedure. Characterization of the prepared compounds show the luminescence wavelength and the quantum yields of the azaborines were tunable by controlling the power and location of the donor and acceptor substituents on the chromophore. UV-visible spectroscopy and density functional theory (DFT) computations revealed that the addition of electron-donating moieties to the isoindolinone hemisphere raised the energy of the HOMO, resulting in the reduction of the HOMO-LUMO gap.