Synthesis of Unsymmetrical Triarylamines for Photonic Applications via One-Pot Palladium-Catalyzed Aminations

Syntheses of unsymmetrically substituted triarylamines have been achieved by a one-pot procedure using C−N bond-forming reactions, where two aryl bromides are sequentially added to an arylamine in the presence of a palladium catalyst. This methodology has been utilized to synthesize a number of substituted analogs of 4,4‘-bis( m -tolylphenylamino)biphenyl, which may be useful as the hole transport component of vapor-deposited organic light-emitting diodes. The variations in the substitution are anticipated to lead to a variety of band gaps, band offsets, and glass transition temperatures in this class of materials.