Carbonyl‐Based Narrowband Emitters Peripherally Decorated by Sulfone‐Containing Spiro Structures.

Sulfone group plays a pivotal role in narrowing emission spectra, while, precise modification with sulfone group for carbonyl‐based narrowband emitters that maintain high color purity remains challenging. Herein, a comprehensive exploration of the function of the sulfone group is performed with various sulfur valences and positions fused into traditional carbonyl‐based narrowband emission unit QAO, namely SpiroS‐QAO, SpiroSO2‐QAO, SpiroO‐QAO, and SpiroOSO2‐QAO. A rigid molecular skeleton with a spiro structure as an intramolecular lock enables the four emitters to exhibit narrowband emissions. After full oxidization of sulfur, the emission band of SpiroSO2‐QAO is further narrowed, with full width at half maximum of 32 nm, compared to that of 43 nm for sulfane‐decorated SpiroS‐QAO, which is attributed to the suppressed C─S bond‐length variation by the introduction of sulfone group. Nearly identical spectra of SpiroO‐QAO and SpiroOSO2‐QAO suggest that the sulfone group should be directly linked to the emission core to maximize its function. Maximum external quantum efficiencies of 30.8%, 30.3%, and 29.2% are achieved for SpiroO‐QAO, SpiroOSO2‐QAO, and SpiroS‐QAO‐based sensitized organic light‐emitting diodes with highly efficient thermally activated delayed fluorescence assistant host. These results offer a comprehensive understanding of the sulfone group embedded into the narrowband emission core with respect to the narrowing emission band. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]