Synthesis and Fluorescence of 2-pyrone Derivatives for Electroluminescence Devices(SPECIAL ISSUE CELEBRATING TEN YEARS OF ESTABLISHMENT OF FACULTY OF ENVIRONMENTAL STUDIES)

A convenient method of synthesizing 6-aryl- and 6-styryl-4-methylsulfanyl-2-oxo-2H-pyran derivatives through the reactions of various active methylene compounds with ketene dithioacetals and investigation of the fluorescence of the products in the solid state are described. The structure-activity relationships of various 2-pyrone derivatives and the effects of different aryl and styryl substituents on the aryl group were clarified. Materials which are strongly fluorescent in the primary colors (red, green, and blue) are the most important materials in the field of organic electroluminescence (EL). The 2-pyrone derivatives synthesized in this work emitted light at 447～620 nm in the solid state