BODIPY DYES AS PROMISING MATERIALS FOR STRONGLY COUPLED MICROCAVITIES

4,4-Difluoro-4-borata-3a-azonia-4a-aza-s-indacene dyes, more commonly known as BODIPY dyes, have been long since recognized for their excellent optical properties such as high absorption coefficients, high fluorescence quantum yields, and remarkable photostability1. Discovered for the first time in 1968 by Treibs and Kreuz2, BODIPY dyes are of wide importance and have a broad use as laser dyes in biological sensing, organic electronic, and other possible applications3. Recently BODIPY molecules dispersed in a polymeric matrix like polystyrene (PS) have been also used to achieve polariton condensation in strongly coupled microcavities4 . Here we present the synthesis, photophysical and gain properties of a series of BODIPY dyes functionalized with lateral substituents to improve their film forming ability and to reduce the effect of PL quenching. This will permit such dyes to be used at high concentration in a strongly coupled microcavity and will allow to reduce the threshold for polariton condensation. (1) Wood, T. E.; Thompson, A. Chem. Rev. 2007, 107, 1831-1861. (2) Treibs, A.; Kreuzer, F.-H. Justus Liebigs Ann. Chem. 1968, 718, 208-223. (3) Squeo, B. M.; Gregoriou, V. G.; Avgeropoulos, A.; Baysec, S.; Allard, S.; Scherf, U.; Chochos, C. L. Prog. Polym. Sci. 2017, 71, 26-52. (4) Grant, R. T.; Michetti, P.; Musser, A. J.; Gregoire, P.; Virgili, T.; Vella, E.; Cavazzini, M.; Georgiou, K.; Galeotti, F.; Clark, C.; Clark, J.; Silva, C.; Lidzey, D. G. Adv. Opt. Mater. 2016, 4, 1615-1623.