Dicyanopyrazine studies. Syntheses and characterization of new bis-styryl fluorescent dyes from DAMN. Part III

2-Bromomethyl-5,6-dicyano-3-phenylpyrazine 4 was synthesized by the condensation reaction of DAMN 3 with 1-bromo-3-phenylpropane-2,3-dione 2. Wittig reaction of the 2-(triphenylphosphonium methyl) group of 5 with arylaldehydes or bisarylaldehydes gave new types of fluorescent styryl dyes, The PPPMO approach provides a reasonable correlation between calculated and experimental spectral data, and the MOPAC approach shows the optimized structure of dye chromophores. The substituent effects of dicyanopyrazines affecting their chemical, electronic, and physical properties were also studied. The electroluminescence properties of dye 10c was also evaluated on the EL device. (C) 1998 Elsevier Science Ltd.