Efficient, Scalable, and
Solvent-free Mechanochemical
Synthesis of the OLED Material Alq<sub>3</sub> (q = 8‑Hydroxyquinolinate)
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Abstract
The aluminum complex Alq<sub>3</sub> (q = 8-hydroxyquinolinate),
which has important applications in organic light-emitting diode materials,
is shown to be readily synthesized as a pure phase under solvent-free
mechanochemical conditions from Al(OAc)<sub>2</sub>OH and 8-hydroxyquinoline
by ball milling. The initial product of the mechanochemical synthesis
is a novel acetic acid solvate of Alq<sub>3</sub>, and the α
polymorph of Alq<sub>3</sub> is obtained on subsequent heating/desolvation
of this phase. The structure of the mechanochemically prepared acetic
acid solvate of Alq<sub>3</sub> has been determined directly from
powder X-ray diffraction data and is shown to be a different polymorph
from the corresponding acetic acid solvate prepared by solution-state
crystallization of Alq<sub>3</sub> from acetic acid. Significantly,
the mechanochemical synthesis of Alq<sub>3</sub> is shown to be fully
scalable across two orders of magnitude from 0.5 to 50 g scale. The
Alq<sub>3</sub> sample obtained from the solvent-free mechanochemical
synthesis is analytically pure and exhibits identical photoluminescence
behavior to that of a sample prepared by the conventional synthetic
route