JP5637084B2 - ORGANIC ELECTROLUMINESCENT ELEMENT, DISPLAY DEVICE, LIGHTING DEVICE, AND ORGANIC ELECTROLUMINESCENT ELEMENT MATERIAL - Google Patents

Description

  The present invention relates to an organic electroluminescence element, a display device, a lighting device, and an organic electroluminescence element material.

  Conventionally, as a light-emitting electronic display device, there is an electroluminescence display (hereinafter referred to as ELD). Examples of the constituent elements of ELD include inorganic electroluminescent elements and organic electroluminescent elements (hereinafter also referred to as organic EL elements).

  Inorganic electroluminescent elements have been used as planar light sources, but an alternating high voltage is required to drive the light emitting elements.

  On the other hand, an organic EL device has a structure in which a light-emitting layer containing a light-emitting compound is sandwiched between a cathode and an anode, and excitons (excitons) are generated by injecting electrons and holes into the light-emitting layer and recombining them. The device emits light by utilizing the emission of light (fluorescence / phosphorescence) when the exciton is deactivated, and can emit light at a voltage of several volts to several tens of volts. Therefore, it has a wide viewing angle, high visibility, and since it is a thin-film type completely solid element, it has attracted attention from the viewpoints of space saving and portability.

  However, in organic EL elements for practical use in the future, development of organic EL elements that emit light efficiently and with high luminance with lower power consumption is desired.

  In Japanese Patent No. 3093796, a small amount of a phosphor is doped into a stilbene derivative, a distyrylarylene derivative or a tristyrylarylene derivative to achieve an improvement in light emission luminance and a longer device lifetime.

  Further, an element having an organic light-emitting layer in which an 8-hydroxyquinoline aluminum complex is used as a host compound and a small amount of phosphor is doped thereto (for example, JP-A 63-264692), and an 8-hydroxyquinoline aluminum complex is used as a host compound. For example, an element having an organic light emitting layer doped with a quinacridone dye (for example, JP-A-3-255190) is known.

  As described above, when light emission from excited singlet is used, the generation ratio of singlet excitons and triplet excitons is 1: 3, and thus the generation probability of luminescent excited species is 25%. Since the efficiency is about 20%, the limit of the external extraction quantum efficiency (η) is set to 5%.

  However, since Princeton University reported on an organic EL device using phosphorescence emission from an excited triplet (MA Baldo et al., Nature, 395, 151-154 (1998)), Research on materials that exhibit phosphorescence has become active.

  For example, M.M. A. Baldo et al. , Nature, 403, 17, 750-753 (2000), US Pat. No. 6,097,147, and the like.

  When the excited triplet is used, the upper limit of the internal quantum efficiency is 100%. In principle, the luminous efficiency is four times that of the excited singlet. Therefore, it is attracting attention as a lighting application.

  For example, S.M. Lamansky et al. , J .; Am. Chem. Soc. , 123, 4304 (2001), etc., many compounds are being studied for synthesis centering on heavy metal complexes such as iridium complexes.

  In addition, the aforementioned M.I. A. Baldo et al. , Nature, 403, 17, 750-753 (2000), studies have been made using tris (2-phenylpyridine) iridium as a dopant.

In addition, M.M. E. Thompson et al. In The 10th International Works on Inorganic and Organic Electroluminescence (EL'00, Hamamatsu) used L ₂ Ir (acac), for example, (ppy) ₂ Ir (acac), e 0 g, Tetsuo Tsutsui, etc., again The 10th International Workshop on Inorganic and Organic Electroluminescence (EL'00, Hamamatsu), the dopant as tris (2-(p-tolyl) pyridine) iridium (Ir _{(ptpy) 3),} tris ( Studies using benzo [h] quinoline) iridium (Ir (bzq) ₃ ) and the like are being conducted (note that these metal complexes are generally called ortho-metalated iridium complexes).

  In addition, the S. Lamansky et al. , J .; Am. Chem. Soc. , 123, 4304 (2001) and Japanese Patent Application Laid-Open No. 2001-247859, etc., attempts have been made to form devices using various iridium complexes.

  In order to obtain high luminous efficiency, in the 10th International Workshop on Inorganic and Organic Electroluminescence (EL'00, Hamamatsu), Ikai et al. Uses a hole transporting compound as a host of a phosphorescent compound.

  In addition, M.M. E. Thompson et al. Use various electron transporting materials as a host of phosphorescent compounds, doped with a novel iridium complex.

  Orthometalated complexes in which the central metal is platinum instead of iridium are also attracting attention. With respect to this type of complex, many examples are known in which ligands are characterized.

  In either case, the light emission brightness and light emission efficiency of the light emitting device are greatly improved compared to conventional devices because the emitted light is derived from phosphorescence. There was a problem that it was lower than the conventional element.

  As described above, it is difficult for phosphorescent highly efficient light-emitting materials to shorten the light emission wavelength and improve the light emission lifetime of the device, and the performance that can withstand practical use cannot be sufficiently achieved.

  It is disclosed that a metal complex having phenylpyrazole as a ligand is a light-emitting material having a short emission wavelength (see, for example, Patent Documents 1 and 2).

  Further, it is disclosed that a metal complex having phenylimidazole as a ligand is also a light-emitting material having a short emission wavelength (see, for example, Patent Documents 3 and 4).

  Furthermore, there is a disclosure of a metal complex that is a condensed aromatic heterocyclic ligand of an 18π electron system such as a phenanthridine skeleton (see, for example, Patent Documents 5 and 6).

Focusing on the low power consumption of organic EL light-emitting elements, in recent years, applications as white backlights for outdoor display devices, business illumination light sources, or white light-emitting elements for large-scale lighting devices have been studied as new applications. ing. In order to use for such applications, continuous light emission for a long time with higher brightness (over 2000 cd / m ² ) than before is required, and further improvement in light emission efficiency and light emission lifetime are problems. It has become.

Conventionally, attention has been focused on improving the light emission efficiency at relatively medium to low luminance (1000 cd / m ² or less). However, when it is assumed that light is emitted at high luminance, it has become clear that the conventional light emitting device cannot obtain sufficient light emission efficiency and the light emission life is greatly deteriorated.

When a metal complex having phenylpyrazole or a metal complex having phenylimidazole is used as a blue light-emitting dopant in a white phosphorescent light-emitting element, when a high current is applied to cause high-intensity light emission (over 2000 cd / m ² ) It has been found that with the conventional device configuration, the light emission efficiency in the high-luminance light emission region is lowered, and at the same time, the light emission life is greatly deteriorated.

  The reason why the luminous efficiency in the high-luminance emission region is lowered in the conventional device configuration is that the doping amount of the light emitting dopant in the light emitting layer is not sufficient for the injected current, and the doping amount of the dopant is increased. It has been found that the luminous efficiency can be improved.

  However, if the doping amount of the dopant is increased too much, the effect of concentration quenching becomes large, and there is a problem that sufficient luminous efficiency cannot be obtained. As a technique for suppressing concentration quenching, a technique for preventing aggregation by introducing a sterically hindered substituent to a ligand of a dopant is known (for example, see Non-Patent Document 1).

  Similarly to the present invention, it is known that an iridium complex using an amidinato ligand as a subligand emits light even when the doping concentration is 100% (for example, see Non-Patent Document 2).

  However, the light emission lifetime cannot be improved at the same time, and further improvement is required.

International Publication No. 2004/085450 JP 2005-53912 A International Publication No. 2005/007767 International Publication No. 2006/121811 US Patent No. 20070190359 International Publication No. 2007/095118

J. et al. Phys. Chem. Lett. 2010, 1,272-276 Chem. Commun. , 2009, 3699-3701

The present invention has been made in view of such problems, and an object of the present invention is to provide an organic EL element material that exhibits high luminous efficiency and has a long light emission lifetime in a high-luminance light emitting region (over 2000 cd / m ² ). It is providing the organic electroluminescent element, lighting apparatus, and display apparatus using this.

  In particular, it is to provide an organic EL element material that emits white light, exhibits high luminous efficiency, has a low driving voltage, and has a long emission lifetime.

  The above object of the present invention has been achieved by the following constitution.

1. In an organic electroluminescence device having an anode and a cathode and having at least one light emitting layer,
The light emitting layer contains at least one compound represented by the following general formula (I).

[Wherein, Ra, Rb and Rc each represents an aliphatic group, an aromatic hydrocarbon group or an aromatic heterocyclic group. R _{1 to} R ₄ each represent a hydrogen atom or a substituent. Ar represents an aliphatic group, an aromatic hydrocarbon group or an aromatic heterocyclic group. X and Y each represent a nitrogen atom or a carbon atom that may have a substituent. R _{1 to} R ₄ and Ar may be connected to each other to form a cyclic structure. When X and Y are carbon atoms having a substituent, the substituents on carbon may be connected to each other to form a cyclic structure, or may be connected to Ar to form a cyclic structure. M represents a group 8-10 transition metal element in the periodic table. m and n each represent 1 or 2, provided that n is smaller than the valence of M, n + m is 2 or 3, and is equal to half of the coordination number of M. ]
2. 2. The organic electroluminescence according to 1 above, wherein the light emitting layer contains at least one compound represented by the following general formula (Ia), (Ib), (Ic), (Id) or (Ie): Luminescence element.

[In the general formulas (Ia) to (Ie), Ra, Rb, and Rc each represents an aliphatic group, an aromatic hydrocarbon group, or an aromatic heterocyclic group. R _{1 to} R ₁₂ each represent a hydrogen atom or a substituent. Ar represents an aliphatic group, an aromatic hydrocarbon group or an aromatic heterocyclic group. M represents a group 8-10 transition metal element in the periodic table. m and n each represent 1 or 2, and n is smaller than the valence of the central metal M. n + m is 2 or 3, which is equal to half the coordination number of M.

In the general formula (Ia), R ₁ to R ₆ and Ar may be connected to each other to form a cyclic structure. In the general formula (Ib), R _{2 to} R ₁₀ may be connected to each other to form a cyclic structure. In the general formula (Ic), R _{1 to} R ₄ , R ₁₁ and Ar may be connected to each other to form a cyclic structure. In the general formula (Id), R _{1 to} R ₄ , R ₁₂ and Ar may be linked to each other to form a cyclic structure. In the general formula (Ie), R _{1 to} R ₄ and Ar may be connected to each other to form a cyclic structure. ]
3. The light emitting layer contains at least one host compound and at least one guest compound, the compound represented by the general formula (1) described in 1 above, the general formula (Ia) described in 2 above, At least one compound represented by (Ib), (Ic), (Id), or (Ie) is contained as the guest compound, and is contained in an amount of 1% by mass or more based on the entire host compound. 3. The organic electroluminescence device as described in 1 or 2 above.

  4). 4. The organic electroluminescence device according to 3 above, wherein the host compound has a dibenzofuran structure, a dibenzothiophene structure, or a fluorene structure as a partial structure.

  5. 5. The organic electroluminescence element according to any one of 1 to 4, wherein M is platinum or iridium.

  6). A display device comprising the organic electroluminescence element according to any one of 1 to 5 above.

  7). An illuminating device comprising the organic electroluminescence element according to any one of 1 to 5 above.

  8). The compound represented by the general formula (I) described in 1 above, and the general formula (Ia), (Ib), (Ic), (Id) or (Ie) described in 2 above An organic electroluminescent element material characterized by the above.

According to the present invention, it was possible to provide an organic EL element that exhibits high light emission efficiency in a high-luminance light emission region (over 2000 cd / m ² ), has a low driving voltage, and has a long light emission lifetime.

  Further, as a result of the study by the inventors, the present invention can greatly reduce the increase in driving voltage at the time of element driving, and can also greatly reduce the occurrence of dark spots in the light emitting element during element driving. Has succeeded in providing a useful organic EL device.

  In addition, a high-efficiency white light-emitting illumination device and a white light-emitting light source for a display device using the element can be provided.

It is the schematic of the illuminating device of this invention. It is a schematic cross section of the illuminating device of this invention.

  In the organic electroluminescent element of this invention, the structure prescribed | regulated to any one of Claims 1-5 WHEREIN: The organic electroluminescent element which shows high luminous efficiency and has a long light emission lifetime, and illumination using this element A device and a display device could be provided.

  In addition, the present inventors succeeded in molecular design of an organic EL element material useful for the organic electroluminescence element of the present invention. The organic electroluminescence element material of the present invention can exhibit high luminous efficiency in a high luminance emission region as a white light emitting element and can significantly improve the light emission lifetime.

  Hereinafter, details of each component according to the present invention will be sequentially described.

《Metal complex (also called metal complex compound)》
The metal complex (also referred to as a metal complex compound) according to the present invention will be described.

  The present inventors paid attention to the organic EL element material used for the light emitting layer of the organic EL element, and examined various metal complex compounds used as a light emitting dopant.

  By introducing a specific substituent and a sub-ligand into the basic skeleton of a metal complex, the present inventors suppress the interaction of excitons of the luminescent dopant that causes a decrease in luminous efficiency, and Various complexes were studied under the focus of improving the lifetime degradation due to injection of excess electrons or holes.

  As a result of investigation, a metal complex having a phenylazole-based main ligand and an amidine-based subligand, such as a compound represented by the general formula (I) according to the present invention (also referred to as a metal complex), emits light. Generation of excitons is promoted by recombination of charges on the metal complex while suppressing injection of excessive electrons or holes into the dopant, and further, by suppressing interaction of excitons of the luminescent dopant, light emission The efficiency was improved, and at the same time, the light emission lifetime of the light emitting element was extended.

  Furthermore, as an unexpected effect, it was possible to drastically reduce the increase in driving voltage when driving the device, and also succeeded in greatly reducing the dark spots of the light emitting device, providing a useful organic EL device I was able to do it.

<< Compound Represented by Formula (I) (Metal Complex) >>
The compound (metal complex) represented by the general formula (I) according to the present invention will be described.

  In the general formula (I), the aliphatic group represented by Ra, Rb, Rc is an alkyl group having 1 to 6 carbon atoms (for example, methyl group, ethyl group, propyl group, isopropyl group, butyl group, etc.), carbon A cycloalkyl group having a number of 3 to 6 (for example, a cyclopropyl group, a cyclobutyl group, a cyclopentyl group, a cyclohexyl group, etc.), an alkenyl group having a carbon number of 1 to 6 (for example, a vinyl group, a 1-propenyl group, a 2-propenyl group, 2-butenyl group etc.) and C1-C6 alkynyl groups (for example, acetylenyl group, 1-propynyl group, 2-propynyl group, 2-butynyl group, etc.). In addition, the group derived from these rings may further have a substituent described later.

  In the general formula (I), the aromatic hydrocarbon group represented by Ra, Rb, Rc (also referred to as an aromatic hydrocarbon ring group, an aromatic carbocyclic group, an aryl group, etc.) includes a benzene ring, a biphenyl ring, Naphthalene ring, azulene ring, anthracene ring, phenanthrene ring, pyrene ring, chrysene ring, naphthacene ring, triphenylene ring, o-terphenyl ring, m-terphenyl ring, p-terphenyl ring, acenaphthene ring, coronene ring, fluorene ring , A group derived from a fluoranthrene ring, a naphthacene ring, a pentacene ring, a perylene ring, a pentaphen ring, a picene ring, a pyrene ring, a pyranthrene ring, an anthraanthrene ring, and the like. In addition, the group derived from these rings may further have a substituent described later.

  In the general formula (I), examples of the aromatic heterocyclic group represented by Ra, Rb, and Rc include a furan ring, a thiophene ring, an oxazole ring, a pyrrole ring, a pyridine ring, a pyridazine ring, a pyrimidine ring, a pyrazine ring, Triazine ring, benzimidazole ring, oxadiazole ring, triazole ring, imidazole ring, pyrazole ring, thiazole ring, indole ring, indazole ring, benzimidazole ring, benzothiophene ring, benzothiazole ring, benzoxazole ring, quinoxaline ring, quinazoline Ring, cinnoline ring, quinoline ring, isoquinoline ring, phthalazine ring, naphthyridine ring, carbazole ring, carboline ring, diazacarbazole ring (represents a ring in which one of the carbon atoms constituting the carboline ring is further substituted with a nitrogen atom) Etc. In addition, the group derived from these rings may further have a substituent described later.

  In the general formula (I), the group represented by Ra is preferably an aromatic hydrocarbon group having 6 to 10 carbon atoms, and particularly preferably a phenyl group which may have a substituent.

  In the general formula (I), the group represented by Rb or Rc is preferably a branched or cyclic alkyl group or a phenyl group which may have a substituent, particularly preferably a branched alkyl group or 2-position. Alternatively, it is a phenyl group substituted with an alkyl group at the 6-position.

<< Substituent >>
Examples of the substituent that the aliphatic group, aromatic hydrocarbon group or aromatic heterocyclic group may further have include an alkyl group (for example, methyl group, ethyl group, propyl group, isopropyl group, tert-butyl group). Group, pentyl group, hexyl group, octyl group, dodecyl group, tridecyl group, tetradecyl group, pentadecyl group, etc.), cycloalkyl group (for example, cyclopentyl group, cyclohexyl group, etc.), alkenyl group (for example, vinyl group, allyl group, etc.) ), Alkynyl group (for example, ethynyl group, propargyl group, etc.), aromatic hydrocarbon group (aromatic hydrocarbon ring group, aromatic carbocyclic group, aryl group, etc., for example, phenyl group, p-chlorophenyl group, Mesityl, tolyl, xylyl, naphthyl, anthryl, azulenyl, acenaphthenyl, fluorenyl Phenanthryl group, indenyl group, pyrenyl group, biphenylyl group, etc.), heteroaromatic group (for example, pyridyl group, pyrimidinyl group, furyl group, pyrrolyl group, imidazolyl group, benzoimidazolyl group, pyrazolyl group, pyrazinyl group, triazolyl group (for example, 1,2,4-triazol-1-yl group, 1,2,3-triazol-1-yl group, etc.), oxazolyl group, benzoxazolyl group, thiazolyl group, isoxazolyl group, isothiazolyl group, furazanyl group, thienyl Group, quinolyl group, benzofuryl group, dibenzofuryl group, benzothienyl group, dibenzothienyl group, indolyl group, carbazolyl group, carbolinyl group, diazacarbazolyl group, quinoxalinyl group, pyridazinyl group, triazinyl group, quinazolinyl group, phthalazinyl group Etc.), Al Xy group (for example, methoxy group, ethoxy group, propyloxy group, pentyloxy group, hexyloxy group, octyloxy group, dodecyloxy group, etc.), cycloalkoxy group (for example, cyclopentyloxy group, cyclohexyloxy group, etc.), aryl An oxy group (for example, phenoxy group, naphthyloxy group, etc.), an alkylthio group (for example, methylthio group, ethylthio group, propylthio group, pentylthio group, hexylthio group, octylthio group, dodecylthio group, etc.), a cycloalkylthio group (for example, cyclopentylthio group) Group, cyclohexylthio group, etc.), arylthio group (eg, phenylthio group, naphthylthio group, etc.), alkoxycarbonyl group (eg, methyloxycarbonyl group, ethyloxycarbonyl group, butyloxycarbonyl group, octyl) Ruoxycarbonyl group, dodecyloxycarbonyl group, etc.), aryloxycarbonyl group (eg, phenyloxycarbonyl group, naphthyloxycarbonyl group, etc.), sulfamoyl group (eg, aminosulfonyl group, methylaminosulfonyl group, dimethylaminosulfonyl group, Butylaminosulfonyl group, hexylaminosulfonyl group, cyclohexylaminosulfonyl group, octylaminosulfonyl group, dodecylaminosulfonyl group, phenylaminosulfonyl group, naphthylaminosulfonyl group, 2-pyridylaminosulfonyl group, etc.), acyl group (for example, acetyl group) Ethylcarbonyl group, propylcarbonyl group, pentylcarbonyl group, cyclohexylcarbonyl group, octylcarbonyl group, 2-ethylhexylcarbonyl group, dode Carbonyl group, phenylcarbonyl group, naphthylcarbonyl group, pyridylcarbonyl group, etc.), acyloxy group (for example, acetyloxy group, ethylcarbonyloxy group, butylcarbonyloxy group, octylcarbonyloxy group, dodecylcarbonyloxy group, phenylcarbonyloxy) Group), amide group (for example, methylcarbonylamino group, ethylcarbonylamino group, dimethylcarbonylamino group, propylcarbonylamino group, pentylcarbonylamino group, cyclohexylcarbonylamino group, 2-ethylhexylcarbonylamino group, octylcarbonylamino group) , Dodecylcarbonylamino group, phenylcarbonylamino group, naphthylcarbonylamino group, etc.), carbamoyl group (for example, aminocarbonyl group, methylamido) Carbonyl group, dimethylaminocarbonyl group, propylaminocarbonyl group, pentylaminocarbonyl group, cyclohexylaminocarbonyl group, octylaminocarbonyl group, 2-ethylhexylaminocarbonyl group, dodecylaminocarbonyl group, phenylaminocarbonyl group, naphthylaminocarbonyl group, 2-pyridylaminocarbonyl group, etc.), ureido group (for example, methylureido group, ethylureido group, pentylureido group, cyclohexylureido group, octylureido group, dodecylureido group, phenylureido group, naphthylureido group, 2-pyridylaminoureido group, etc. ), Sulfinyl groups (for example, methylsulfinyl group, ethylsulfinyl group, butylsulfinyl group, cyclohexylsulfinyl group, 2-ethylhexyl group) Silsulfinyl group, dodecylsulfinyl group, phenylsulfinyl group, naphthylsulfinyl group, 2-pyridylsulfinyl group, etc.), alkylsulfonyl group (for example, methylsulfonyl group, ethylsulfonyl group, butylsulfonyl group, cyclohexylsulfonyl group, 2-ethylhexylsulfonyl) Group, dodecylsulfonyl group, etc.), arylsulfonyl group or heteroarylsulfonyl group (eg, phenylsulfonyl group, naphthylsulfonyl group, 2-pyridylsulfonyl group, etc.), amino group (eg, amino group, ethylamino group, dimethylamino group) Butylamino group, cyclopentylamino group, 2-ethylhexylamino group, dodecylamino group, anilino group, naphthylamino group, 2-pyridylamino group, etc.), halogen atom (for example, fluorine Atom, chlorine atom, bromine atom, etc.), fluorinated hydrocarbon group (eg, fluoromethyl group, trifluoromethyl group, pentafluoroethyl group, pentafluorophenyl group, etc.), cyano group, nitro group, hydroxy group, mercapto group , A silyl group (for example, a trimethylsilyl group, a triisopropylsilyl group, a triphenylsilyl group, a phenyldiethylsilyl group), a phosphono group, and the like. Further, these groups may further have a substituent.

In the general formula (I), the substituents represented by R _{1 to} R ₄ in the general formula (I) are aliphatic groups, aromatic hydrocarbon groups, or aromatic heterocyclic rings represented by Ra, Rb, and Rc. It is synonymous with the substituent which group may have further.

In the general formula (I), R _{1 to} R ₄ are preferably a hydrogen atom, an alkyl group having 1 to 6 carbon atoms, or a phenyl group.

  In the general formula (I), the aliphatic group, aromatic hydrocarbon group or aromatic heterocyclic group represented by Ar is an aliphatic group represented by Ra, Rb or Rc in the general formula (I), respectively. And is synonymous with an aromatic hydrocarbon group or an aromatic heterocyclic group.

  Among them, the group represented by Ar is preferably a substituted phenyl group, and particularly preferably a phenyl group substituted with an alkyl group having 1 to 6 carbon atoms or a cycloalkyl group at the 2-position or 6-position.

  In the general formula (I), X and Y each represent a nitrogen atom or a carbon atom which may have a substituent. As the sum of X and Y, the nitrogen atom may take 0, 1 or 2, A case of 0 or 1 is preferred, and a case of 0 is particularly preferred.

In the general formula (I), R ₁ to R ₄ and Ar may be connected to each other to form a cyclic structure. When X and Y are carbon atoms having a substituent, the substituents on carbon may be linked to each other to form a cyclic structure, or may be linked to Ar to form a cyclic structure.

  In the general formula (I), specific examples of the transition metal element of Group 8 to Group 10 in the periodic table represented by M include ruthenium, osmium, rhodium, iridium, palladium, platinum and the like. Of these, iridium and platinum are preferable.

  When M represents iridium, m = 2 and n = 1 are preferable.

  Subsequently, among the compounds (metal complexes) represented by the general formula (I) according to the present invention, the compounds (metal complexes) each represented by the general formulas (Ia) to (Ie) that are preferably used will be described. To do.

<< Compound represented by any one of formulas (Ia) to (Ie) (metal complex) >>
In the general formulas (Ia) to (Ie), an aliphatic group, an aromatic hydrocarbon group, or an aromatic heterocyclic group represented by Ra, Rb, or Rc is represented by Ra, Rb, or Rc in the general formula (I). It is synonymous with the aliphatic group, aromatic hydrocarbon group, or aromatic heterocyclic group represented.

In the general formulas (Ia) to (Ie), the substituents represented by R _{1 to} R ₁₂ in the general formula (I) are aliphatic groups, aromatic hydrocarbon groups represented by Ra, Rb, and Rc. Synonymous with aromatic heterocyclic group.

  In the general formulas (Ia) to (Ie), the aliphatic group, aromatic hydrocarbon group or aromatic heterocyclic group represented by Ar is an aliphatic group represented by Ra, Rb or Rc in the general formula (I). It is synonymous with an aromatic group, an aromatic hydrocarbon group or an aromatic heterocyclic group.

  In General Formulas (Ia) to (Ie), Group 8 to Group 10 transition metal elements in the Periodic Table of Elements represented by M are Group 8 in the Periodic Table of Elements represented by M in General Formula (I) It is synonymous with the Group 10 transition metal element.

  Next, the preferable aspect of the compound (metal complex) each represented by general formula (Ia)-(Ie) is demonstrated.

In the general formula (Ia), R ₅ and R ₆ are preferably a hydrogen atom or an aliphatic group, and particularly preferably a hydrogen atom or an alkyl group having 4 or less carbon atoms.

  Ar is preferably an aromatic hydrocarbon group, more preferably a substituted phenyl group, and particularly preferably a phenyl group in which a linear or branched alkyl group having 6 or less carbon atoms is substituted at the 2-position or 6-position or A phenyl group substituted by a cycloalkyl group.

In the general formula (1b), when R _{2 to} R ₁₀ represent a substituent, the substituent is preferably an aliphatic group or an aromatic hydrocarbon group, and more preferably a linear or branched alkyl group having 6 or less carbon atoms. A cycloalkyl group is preferable, and a branched alkyl group having 6 or less carbon atoms is particularly preferable.

In the general formula (1c), R ₁₁ is preferably a hydrogen atom or an aliphatic group, and particularly preferably a hydrogen atom or an alkyl group having 4 or less carbon atoms.

  Ar is preferably an aromatic hydrocarbon group, more preferably a substituted phenyl group, and particularly preferably a phenyl group in which a linear or branched alkyl group having 6 or less carbon atoms is substituted at the 2-position or 6-position or A phenyl group substituted by a cycloalkyl group.

In the general formula (1d), R ₁₂ is preferably a hydrogen atom or an aliphatic group, and particularly preferably a hydrogen atom or an alkyl group having 4 or less carbon atoms.

  Ar is preferably an aromatic hydrocarbon group, more preferably a substituted phenyl group, and particularly preferably a phenyl group in which a linear or branched alkyl group having 6 or less carbon atoms is substituted at the 2-position or 6-position or A phenyl group substituted by a cycloalkyl group.

  In the general formula (1e), Ar is preferably an aromatic hydrocarbon group, more preferably a substituted phenyl group, and particularly preferably a linear or branched alkyl group having 6 or less carbon atoms at the 2-position or the 6-position. A substituted phenyl group or a phenyl group substituted with a cycloalkyl group.

  Of the compounds (metal complexes) represented by the general formulas (Ia) to (Ie) according to the present invention, more preferred are those represented by the general formula (Ia), (Ib), or (Id). It is a compound (metal complex).

  Specific examples of the compound represented by any one of the general formulas (I) and (Ia) to (Ie) according to the present invention (also referred to as a metal complex or a metal complex compound) are shown below. It is not limited.

  The compounds other than those described in Tables 1 to 5 are shown below.

  In Tables 1 to 5, symbols in the tables are as shown below.

Ph: phenyl group CH ₂ Ph: benzyl group Me: methyl group i-Pr: isopropyl group t-Bu: tertiary butyl group C ₅ H ₁₁ : cyclopentyl group C ₆ H ₁₃ : cyclohexyl group Ar-1 to Ar-8: (* Indicates bond position)

  Ra-1 to Ra-3: (* represents a bonding position)

  Rb-1 to Rb-4: (* represents a bonding position)

  These metal complexes are described in, for example, Organic Letter, vol. 16, 2579-2581 (2001), Inorganic Chemistry, Vol. 30, No. 8, 1685-1687 (1991), J. Am. Am. Chem. Soc. , 123, 4304 (2001), Inorganic Chemistry, Vol. 40, No. 7, 1704-1711 (2001), Inorganic Chemistry, Vol. 41, No. 12, 3055-3066 (2002) , New Journal of Chemistry. 26, 1171 (2002), Organic Letter, vol. 3, pages 415 to 418 (2006), and further by applying methods such as references described in these documents.

  The synthesis of the amidinato ligand and the metal complex using the ligand can be synthesized by applying methods such as Non-Patent Document 2 and references described therein.

  Although the synthesis example of the metal complex based on this invention is shown below, this invention is not limited to these.

  Below, the synthesis example of a typical compound is shown.

  << Synthesis of Exemplified Compound Ia-1 >>

Step 1: Synthesis of Complex (A) Iridium chloride trihydrate was added to a solution of 18 g of 2-phenyl- (2,4,6-trimethylphenyl) -1H-imidazole in 350 ml of 2-ethoxyethanol under a nitrogen atmosphere. 8.1 g and 100 ml of water were added and refluxed for 5 hours under a nitrogen atmosphere.

  The reaction solution was cooled, 500 ml of methanol was added, and the precipitated crystals were collected by filtration. The obtained crystals were further washed with methanol and dried to obtain 15.2 g of the complex (A).

Step 2: Synthesis of Exemplified Compound Ia-1 Argon atmosphere, 0.6 ml of n-BuLi in hexane was added dropwise to a solution of 260 mg of 1-bromobenzene dissolved in 40 ml of hexane.

  After stirring at room temperature for 1 hour, 200 mg of N, N-diisopropylcarbodiimide was added dropwise. After further stirring for 30 minutes, a hexane solution (60 ml) of 1.2 g of the previously synthesized complex (A) was added dropwise.

  After stirring at 80 ° C. for 8 hours, the reaction solution was cooled, and then the solvent was distilled off under reduced pressure.

  The residue was washed with diethyl ether and dried. Further, 400 mg of Exemplified Compound Ia-1 was obtained by purifying by silica gel chromatography using methylene chloride.

  The structure of Exemplified Compound Ia-12 was confirmed by NMR (nuclear magnetic resonance method) and mass spectrum.

  For other compounds (metal complexes) represented by any one of the general formula (I) and general formulas (Ia) to (Ie) according to the present invention, the same synthesis method as in the above synthesis example is used, and It can be synthesized with good yield by using raw materials.

<< Constituent layers of organic EL elements >>
The constituent layers of the organic EL element of the present invention will be described. In this invention, although the preferable specific example of the layer structure of an organic EL element is shown below, this invention is not limited to these.

(I) Anode / light emitting layer / electron transport layer / cathode (ii) Anode / hole transport layer / light emitting layer / electron transport layer / cathode (iii) Anode / hole transport layer / light emitting layer / hole blocking layer / electron Transport layer / cathode (iv) Anode / hole transport layer / light emitting layer / hole blocking layer / electron transport layer / cathode buffer layer / cathode (v) Anode / anode buffer layer / hole transport layer / light emitting layer / hole Blocking layer / electron transport layer / cathode buffer layer / cathode In the organic EL device of the present invention, the blue light emitting layer preferably has a light emission maximum wavelength of 430 nm to 480 nm, and the green light emitting layer has a light emission maximum wavelength of 510 nm to 550 nm, The red light emitting layer is preferably a monochromatic light emitting layer having a light emission maximum wavelength in the range of 600 nm to 640 nm, and is preferably a display device using these. Alternatively, a white light emitting layer may be formed by laminating at least three light emitting layers. Further, a non-light emitting intermediate layer may be provided between the light emitting layers. The organic EL element of the present invention is preferably a white light emitting layer, and is preferably a lighting device using these.

  Each layer which comprises the organic EL element of this invention is demonstrated.

<Light emitting layer>
The light emitting layer according to the present invention is a layer that emits light by recombination of electrons and holes injected from the electrode, the electron transport layer, or the hole transport layer, and the light emitting portion is in the layer of the light emitting layer. May be the interface between the light emitting layer and the adjacent layer.

  The total film thickness of the light emitting layer is not particularly limited, but from the viewpoint of improving the uniformity of the film, preventing unnecessary application of high voltage during light emission, and improving the stability of the emission color with respect to the drive current. It is preferable to adjust in the range of 2 nm to 5 μm, more preferably in the range of 2 nm to 200 nm, and particularly preferably in the range of 10 nm to 20 nm.

  For the production of the light-emitting layer, a light-emitting dopant or a host compound, which will be described later, is formed by a known thinning method such as a vacuum deposition method, a spin coating method, a casting method, an LB method, or an ink-jet method. it can.

  The light emitting layer of the organic EL device of the present invention preferably contains a light emitting host compound and at least one kind of light emitting dopant (such as a phosphorescent dopant (also referred to as a phosphorescent dopant) or a fluorescent dopant).

(Host compound (also called luminescent host))
The host compound used in the present invention will be described.

  Here, the host compound in the present invention is a phosphorescent quantum yield of phosphorescence emission at a room temperature (25 ° C.) having a mass ratio of 20% or more in the compound contained in the light emitting layer. Is defined as a compound of less than 0.1. The phosphorescence quantum yield is preferably less than 0.01. Moreover, it is preferable that the mass ratio in the layer is 20% or more among the compounds contained in a light emitting layer.

  As the host compound, known host compounds may be used alone or in combination of two or more. By using a plurality of types of host compounds, it is possible to adjust the movement of charges, and the efficiency of the organic EL element can be further increased. Moreover, it becomes possible to mix different light emission by using multiple types of light emission dopants mentioned later, and, thereby, arbitrary luminescent colors can be obtained.

  The light emitting host used in the present invention may be a low molecular compound, a high molecular compound having a repeating unit, or a low molecular compound having a polymerizable group such as a vinyl group or an epoxy group (evaporation polymerizable light emitting host). Of course, one or more of such compounds may be used.

  As a known host compound that may be used in combination, a compound that has a hole transporting ability and an electron transporting ability, prevents the emission of light from being increased in wavelength, and has a high Tg (glass transition temperature) is preferable.

  Specific examples of known host compounds include compounds described in the following documents.

  JP-A-2001-257076, 2002-308855, 2001-313179, 2002-319491, 2001-357777, 2002-334786, 2002-8860, 2002-334787, 2002-15871, 2002-334788, 2002-43056, 2002-334789, 2002-75645, 2002-338579, 2002-105445 gazette, 2002-343568 gazette, 2002-141173 gazette, 2002-352957 gazette, 2002-203683 gazette, 2002-363227 gazette, 2002-231453 gazette, No. 003-3165, No. 2002-234888, No. 2003-27048, No. 2002-255934, No. 2002-286061, No. 2002-280183, No. 2002-299060, No. 2002. -302516, 2002-305083, 2002-305084, 2002-308837, and the like.

  In order to improve the light emission lifetime of the organic EL device, the reason is not clear, but the host compound is preferably a host compound having a dibenzofuran structure, a dibenzothiophene structure, or a fluorene structure as a partial structure.

  Although the specific example of the host compound preferably used for this invention below is shown, this invention is not limited to these.

(Luminescent dopant)
The light emitting dopant according to the present invention will be described.

  As the light-emitting dopant according to the present invention, a fluorescent dopant (also referred to as a fluorescent compound) or a phosphorescent dopant (also referred to as a phosphorescent emitter, a phosphorescent compound, a phosphorescent compound, or the like) can be used. From the viewpoint of obtaining an organic EL device with high luminous efficiency, the light emitting dopant used in the light emitting layer or the light emitting unit of the organic EL device of the present invention (sometimes simply referred to as a light emitting material) contains the above host compound. At the same time, it is preferable to contain a phosphorescent dopant.

(Phosphorescent dopant)
The phosphorescent dopant according to the present invention will be described.

  The phosphorescent dopant according to the present invention is a compound in which light emission from an excited triplet is observed. Specifically, the phosphorescent dopant is a compound that emits phosphorescence at room temperature (25 ° C.) and has a phosphorescence quantum yield of 25. Although it is defined as a compound of 0.01 or more at ° C., a preferable phosphorescence quantum yield is 0.1 or more.

  The phosphorescence quantum yield can be measured by the method described in Spectroscopic II, page 398 (1992 edition, Maruzen) of Experimental Chemistry Course 4 of the 4th edition. Although the phosphorescence quantum yield in a solution can be measured using various solvents, the phosphorescence dopant according to the present invention achieves the phosphorescence quantum yield (0.01 or more) in any solvent. That's fine.

  There are two types of light emission of phosphorescent dopants in principle. One is the recombination of carriers on the host compound to which carriers are transported to generate an excited state of the host compound, and this energy is transferred to the phosphorescent dopant. The energy transfer type that obtains light emission from the phosphorescent dopant, and the other is that the phosphorescent dopant becomes a carrier trap, carrier recombination occurs on the phosphorescent dopant, and light emission from the phosphorescent dopant is obtained. Although it is a trap type, in any case, the excited state energy of the phosphorescent dopant is required to be lower than the excited state energy of the host compound.

  The phosphorescent dopant can be appropriately selected from known materials used for the light emitting layer of the organic EL device.

  The phosphorescent dopant according to the present invention is preferably a complex compound containing a group 8-10 metal in the periodic table of elements, more preferably an iridium compound, an osmium compound, or a platinum compound (platinum complex compound), Rare earth complexes, most preferably iridium compounds.

  As the compound used as the phosphorescent dopant according to the present invention, a transition metal complex compound represented by any one of the general formulas (I) and (Ia) to (Ie) according to the present invention is used. A conventionally known light-emitting dopant as shown in FIG.

(Fluorescent dopant (also called fluorescent compound))
Fluorescent dopants (fluorescent compounds) include coumarin dyes, pyran dyes, cyanine dyes, croconium dyes, squalium dyes, oxobenzanthracene dyes, fluorescein dyes, rhodamine dyes, pyrylium dyes, perylene dyes Examples thereof include dyes, stilbene dyes, polythiophene dyes, and rare earth complex phosphors.

  Next, an injection layer, a blocking layer, an electron transport layer, and the like used as a constituent layer of the organic EL element of the present invention will be described.

<< Injection layer: electron injection layer, hole injection layer >>
The injection layer is provided as necessary, and there are an electron injection layer and a hole injection layer, and as described above, it exists between the anode and the light emitting layer or the hole transport layer and between the cathode and the light emitting layer or the electron transport layer. May be.

  An injection layer is a layer provided between an electrode and an organic layer in order to reduce drive voltage and improve light emission luminance. “Organic EL element and its forefront of industrialization (issued by NTT Corporation on November 30, 1998) 2), Chapter 2, “Electrode Materials” (pages 123 to 166) in detail, and includes a hole injection layer (anode buffer layer) and an electron injection layer (cathode buffer layer).

  The details of the anode buffer layer (hole injection layer) are described in JP-A-9-45479, JP-A-9-260062, JP-A-8-288069 and the like. As a specific example, copper phthalocyanine is used. Examples thereof include a phthalocyanine buffer layer represented by an oxide, an oxide buffer layer represented by vanadium oxide, an amorphous carbon buffer layer, and a polymer buffer layer using a conductive polymer such as polyaniline (emeraldine) or polythiophene.

  The details of the cathode buffer layer (electron injection layer) are described in JP-A-6-325871, JP-A-9-17574, JP-A-10-74586, and the like. Specifically, strontium, aluminum, etc. Metal buffer layer typified by lithium, alkali metal compound buffer layer typified by lithium fluoride, alkaline earth metal compound buffer layer typified by magnesium fluoride, oxide buffer layer typified by aluminum oxide, etc. . The buffer layer (injection layer) is preferably a very thin film, and the film thickness is preferably in the range of 0.1 nm to 5 μm although it depends on the material.

<Blocking layer: hole blocking layer, electron blocking layer>
The blocking layer is provided as necessary in addition to the basic constituent layer of the organic compound thin film as described above. For example, it is described in JP-A Nos. 11-204258, 11-204359, and “Organic EL elements and their forefront of industrialization” (issued by NTT, Inc. on November 30, 1998). There is a hole blocking (hole blocking) layer.

  The hole blocking layer has a function of an electron transport layer in a broad sense, and is made of a hole blocking material that has a function of transporting electrons and has a remarkably small ability to transport holes. The probability of recombination of electrons and holes can be improved by blocking.

  Moreover, the structure of the electron carrying layer mentioned later can be used as a hole-blocking layer concerning this invention as needed.

  The hole blocking layer of the organic EL device of the present invention is preferably provided adjacent to the light emitting layer.

  The hole blocking layer contains the carbazole derivative, carboline derivative, or diazacarbazole derivative (shown in which any one of the carbon atoms constituting the carboline ring of the carboline derivative is replaced by a nitrogen atom). It is preferable to contain.

  In the present invention, when a plurality of light emitting layers having different light emission colors are provided, the light emitting layer having the shortest wavelength of light emission is preferably closest to the anode among all the light emitting layers. In this case, it is preferable to additionally provide a hole blocking layer between the shortest wave layer and the light emitting layer next to the anode next to the anode. Furthermore, it is preferable that 50% by mass or more of the compound contained in the hole blocking layer provided at the position has an ionization potential of 0.3 eV or more larger than the host compound of the shortest wave emitting layer.

  The ionization potential is defined by the energy required to emit an electron at the HOMO (highest occupied molecular orbital) level of the compound to the vacuum level, and can be obtained by the following method, for example.

  (1) Using Gaussian 98 (Gaussian 98, Revision A.11.4, MJ Frisch, et al, Gaussian, Inc., Pittsburgh PA, 2002.), a molecular orbital calculation software manufactured by Gaussian, USA The ionization potential can be obtained as a value obtained by rounding off the second decimal place of the value (eV unit converted value) calculated by performing structural optimization using B3LYP / 6-31G *. This calculation value is effective because the correlation between the calculation value obtained by this method and the experimental value is high.

  (2) The ionization potential can also be obtained by a method of directly measuring by photoelectron spectroscopy. For example, a method known as ultraviolet photoelectron spectroscopy can be suitably used by using a low energy electron spectrometer “Model AC-1” manufactured by Riken Keiki Co., Ltd.

  On the other hand, the electron blocking layer has a function of a hole transport layer in a broad sense, and is made of a material that has a function of transporting holes and has an extremely small ability to transport electrons, and transports electrons while transporting holes. By blocking, the recombination probability of electrons and holes can be improved.

  Moreover, the structure of the positive hole transport layer mentioned later can be used as an electron blocking layer as needed. The film thickness of the hole blocking layer and the electron transport layer according to the present invention is preferably 3 nm to 100 nm, and more preferably 5 nm to 30 nm.

《Hole transport layer》
The hole transport layer is made of a hole transport material having a function of transporting holes, and in a broad sense, a hole injection layer and an electron blocking layer are also included in the hole transport layer. The hole transport layer can be provided as a single layer or a plurality of layers.

  The hole transport material has any one of hole injection or transport and electron barrier properties, and may be either organic or inorganic. For example, triazole derivatives, oxadiazole derivatives, imidazole derivatives, polyarylalkane derivatives, pyrazoline derivatives and pyrazolone derivatives, phenylenediamine derivatives, arylamine derivatives, amino-substituted chalcone derivatives, oxazole derivatives, styrylanthracene derivatives, fluorenone derivatives, hydrazone derivatives, Examples thereof include stilbene derivatives, silazane derivatives, aniline copolymers, and conductive polymer oligomers, particularly thiophene oligomers.

  The above-mentioned materials can be used as the hole transport material, but it is preferable to use a porphyrin compound, an aromatic tertiary amine compound and a styrylamine compound, particularly an aromatic tertiary amine compound.

  Representative examples of aromatic tertiary amine compounds and styrylamine compounds include N, N, N ', N'-tetraphenyl-4,4'-diaminophenyl; N, N'-diphenyl-N, N'- Bis (3-methylphenyl)-[1,1′-biphenyl] -4,4′-diamine (TPD); 2,2-bis (4-di-p-tolylaminophenyl) propane; 1,1-bis (4-di-p-tolylaminophenyl) cyclohexane; N, N, N ′, N′-tetra-p-tolyl-4,4′-diaminobiphenyl; 1,1-bis (4-di-p-tolyl) Aminophenyl) -4-phenylcyclohexane; bis (4-dimethylamino-2-methylphenyl) phenylmethane; bis (4-di-p-tolylaminophenyl) phenylmethane; N, N'-diphenyl-N, N ' − (4-methoxyphenyl) -4,4'-diaminobiphenyl; N, N, N ', N'-tetraphenyl-4,4'-diaminodiphenyl ether; 4,4'-bis (diphenylamino) quadriphenyl; N, N, N-tri (p-tolyl) amine; 4- (di-p-tolylamino) -4 '-[4- (di-p-tolylamino) styryl] stilbene; 4-N, N-diphenylamino- (2-diphenylvinyl) benzene; 3-methoxy-4′-N, N-diphenylaminostilbenzene; N-phenylcarbazole, and also two of those described in US Pat. No. 5,061,569. Having a condensed aromatic ring in the molecule, for example, 4,4'-bis [N- (1-naphthyl) -N-phenylamino] biphenyl (NPD), JP-A-4-3086 4,4 ', 4 "-tris [N- (3-methylphenyl) -N-phenylamino] triphenylamine in which three triphenylamine units described in Japanese Patent No. 8 are linked in a starburst type ( MTDATA) and the like.

  Furthermore, a polymer material in which these materials are introduced into a polymer chain or these materials are used as a polymer main chain can also be used. In addition, inorganic compounds such as p-type-Si and p-type-SiC can also be used as the hole injection material and the hole transport material.

  JP-A-11-251067, J. Org. Huang et. al. A so-called p-type hole transport material as described in a book (Applied Physics Letters 80 (2002), p. 139) can also be used. In the present invention, these materials are preferably used because a light-emitting element with higher efficiency can be obtained.

  The hole transport layer can be formed by thinning the hole transport material by a known method such as a vacuum deposition method, a spin coating method, a casting method, a printing method including an ink jet method, or an LB method. it can. Although there is no restriction | limiting in particular about the film thickness of a positive hole transport layer, Usually, 5 nm-about 5 micrometers, Preferably it is 5 nm-200 nm. The hole transport layer may have a single layer structure composed of one or more of the above materials.

  Alternatively, a hole transport layer having a high p property doped with impurities can be used. Examples thereof include JP-A-4-297076, JP-A-2000-196140, JP-A-2001-102175, J. Pat. Appl. Phys. 95, 5773 (2004), and the like.

  In the present invention, it is preferable to use a hole transport layer having such a high p property because a device with lower power consumption can be produced.

《Electron transport layer》
The electron transport layer is made of a material having a function of transporting electrons, and in a broad sense, an electron injection layer and a hole blocking layer are also included in the electron transport layer. The electron transport layer can be provided as a single layer or a plurality of layers.

  Conventionally, in the case of a single electron transport layer and a plurality of layers, an electron transport material (also serving as a hole blocking material) used for an electron transport layer adjacent to the light emitting layer on the cathode side is injected from the cathode. As long as it has a function of transferring electrons to the light-emitting layer, any material can be selected and used from among conventionally known compounds. For example, nitro-substituted fluorene derivatives, diphenylquinone derivatives Thiopyrandioxide derivatives, carbodiimides, fluorenylidenemethane derivatives, anthraquinodimethane and anthrone derivatives, oxadiazole derivatives and the like.

  Furthermore, in the above oxadiazole derivative, a thiadiazole derivative in which the oxygen atom of the oxadiazole ring is substituted with a sulfur atom, and a quinoxaline derivative having a quinoxaline ring known as an electron withdrawing group can also be used as an electron transport material. Furthermore, a polymer material in which these materials are introduced into a polymer chain or these materials are used as a polymer main chain can also be used.

  Also, metal complexes of 8-quinolinol derivatives such as tris (8-quinolinol) aluminum (Alq), tris (5,7-dichloro-8-quinolinol) aluminum, tris (5,7-dibromo-8-quinolinol) aluminum, Tris (2-methyl-8-quinolinol) aluminum, tris (5-methyl-8-quinolinol) aluminum, bis (8-quinolinol) zinc (Znq), etc., and the central metals of these metal complexes are In, Mg, Cu , Ca, Sn, Ga, or Pb can also be used as an electron transport material.

  In addition, metal-free or metal phthalocyanine, or those having terminal ends substituted with an alkyl group or a sulfonic acid group can be preferably used as the electron transporting material. In addition, the distyrylpyrazine derivative exemplified as the material of the light emitting layer can also be used as an electron transport material, and an inorganic semiconductor such as n-type-Si, n-type-SiC, etc. as in the case of the hole injection layer and the hole transport layer. Can also be used as an electron transporting material.

  The electron transport layer can be formed by thinning the electron transport material by a known method such as a vacuum deposition method, a spin coating method, a casting method, a printing method including an ink jet method, or an LB method. Although there is no restriction | limiting in particular about the film thickness of an electron carrying layer, Usually, 5 nm-about 5 micrometers, Preferably it is 5 nm-200 nm. The electron transport layer may have a single layer structure composed of one or more of the above materials.

  Further, an electron transport layer having a high n property doped with impurities can also be used. Examples thereof include JP-A-4-297076, JP-A-10-270172, JP-A-2000-196140, 2001-102175, J.A. Appl. Phys. 95, 5773 (2004), and the like.

  In the present invention, it is preferable to use an electron transport layer having such a high n property because an element with lower power consumption can be manufactured.

"anode"
As the anode in the organic EL element, an electrode material made of a metal, an alloy, an electrically conductive compound, or a mixture thereof having a high work function (4 eV or more) is preferably used. Specific examples of such electrode materials include metals such as Au, and conductive transparent materials such as CuI, indium tin oxide (ITO), SnO ₂ , and ZnO.

Alternatively, an amorphous material such as IDIXO (In ₂ O ₃ —ZnO) capable of forming a transparent conductive film may be used. For the anode, these electrode materials may be formed into a thin film by a method such as vapor deposition or sputtering, and a pattern having a desired shape may be formed by a photolithography method, or when pattern accuracy is not so high (about 100 μm or more) A pattern may be formed through a mask having a desired shape at the time of vapor deposition or sputtering of the electrode material.

  Or when using the substance which can be apply | coated like an organic electroconductivity compound, wet film-forming methods, such as a printing system and a coating system, can also be used. When light emission is extracted from the anode, it is desirable that the transmittance be greater than 10%, and the sheet resistance as the anode is preferably several hundred Ω / □ or less. Further, although the film thickness depends on the material, it is usually selected in the range of 10 nm to 1000 nm, preferably 10 nm to 200 nm.

"cathode"
On the other hand, as the cathode, a material having a low work function (4 eV or less) metal (referred to as an electron injecting metal), an alloy, an electrically conductive compound, and a mixture thereof as an electrode material is used. Specific examples of such electrode materials include sodium, sodium-potassium alloy, magnesium, lithium, magnesium / copper mixture, magnesium / silver mixture, magnesium / aluminum mixture, magnesium / indium mixture, aluminum / aluminum oxide (Al ₂ O ₃ ) Mixtures, indium, lithium / aluminum mixtures, rare earth metals and the like. Among these, from the point of durability against electron injection and oxidation, etc., a mixture of an electron injecting metal and a second metal which is a stable metal having a larger work function than this, for example, a magnesium / silver mixture, Magnesium / aluminum mixtures, magnesium / indium mixtures, aluminum / aluminum oxide (Al ₂ O ₃ ) mixtures, lithium / aluminum mixtures, aluminum and the like are preferred.

  The cathode can be produced by forming a thin film of these electrode materials by a method such as vapor deposition or sputtering. The sheet resistance as a cathode is preferably several hundred Ω / □ or less, and the film thickness is usually selected in the range of 10 nm to 5 μm, preferably 50 nm to 200 nm. In order to transmit the emitted light, if either one of the anode or the cathode of the organic EL element is transparent or translucent, the light emission luminance is improved, which is convenient.

  Moreover, after producing the said metal by the film thickness of 1 nm-20 nm to a cathode, the transparent or semi-transparent cathode can be produced by producing the electroconductive transparent material quoted by description of the anode on it, By applying this, an element in which both the anode and the cathode are transmissive can be manufactured.

《Support substrate》
As a support substrate (hereinafter also referred to as a substrate, substrate, substrate, support, etc.) that can be used in the organic EL device of the present invention, there is no particular limitation on the type of glass, plastic, etc. May be opaque. When extracting light from the support substrate side, the support substrate is preferably transparent. Examples of the transparent support substrate preferably used include glass, quartz, and a transparent resin film. A particularly preferable support substrate is a resin film capable of giving flexibility to the organic EL element.

  Examples of the resin film include polyesters such as polyethylene terephthalate (PET) and polyethylene naphthalate (PEN), polyethylene, polypropylene, cellophane, cellulose diacetate, cellulose triacetate, cellulose acetate butyrate, cellulose acetate propionate (CAP), Cellulose esters such as cellulose acetate phthalate (TAC) and cellulose nitrate or derivatives thereof, polyvinylidene chloride, polyvinyl alcohol, polyethylene vinyl alcohol, syndiotactic polystyrene, polycarbonate, norbornene resin, polymethylpentene, polyether ketone, polyimide , Polyethersulfone (PES), polyphenylene sulfide, polysulfones Cycloolefin resins such as polyetherimide, polyetherketoneimide, polyamide, fluororesin, nylon, polymethylmethacrylate, acrylic or polyarylate, Arton (trade name, manufactured by JSR) or Appel (trade name, manufactured by Mitsui Chemicals) Can be mentioned.

On the surface of the resin film, an inorganic film, an organic film, or a hybrid film of both may be formed. Water vapor permeability (25 ± 0.5 ° C.) measured by a method according to JIS K 7129-1992. , Relative humidity (90 ± 2)% RH) is preferably 0.01 g / (m ² · 24 h) or less, and further, oxygen measured by a method according to JIS K 7126-1987. A high barrier film having a permeability of 10 ⁻³ ml / (m ² · 24 h · atm) or less and a water vapor permeability of 10 ⁻⁵ g / (m ² · 24 h) or less is preferable.

  As a material for forming the barrier film, any material may be used as long as it has a function of suppressing entry of elements that cause deterioration of elements such as moisture and oxygen. For example, silicon oxide, silicon dioxide, silicon nitride, or the like can be used. Further, in order to improve the brittleness of the film, it is more preferable to have a laminated structure of these inorganic layers and organic material layers. Although there is no restriction | limiting in particular about the lamination | stacking order of an inorganic layer and an organic layer, It is preferable to laminate | stack both alternately several times.

  The method for forming the barrier film is not particularly limited. For example, the vacuum deposition method, sputtering method, reactive sputtering method, molecular beam epitaxy method, cluster ion beam method, ion plating method, plasma polymerization method, atmospheric pressure plasma weight A combination method, a plasma CVD method, a laser CVD method, a thermal CVD method, a coating method, and the like can be used, but an atmospheric pressure plasma polymerization method as described in JP-A-2004-68143 is particularly preferable.

  Examples of the opaque support substrate include metal plates such as aluminum and stainless steel, films, opaque resin substrates, and ceramic substrates.

  The external extraction efficiency at room temperature of light emission of the organic EL device of the present invention is preferably 1% or more, more preferably 5% or more.

  Here, the external extraction quantum efficiency (%) = the number of photons emitted to the outside of the organic EL element / the number of electrons sent to the organic EL element × 100.

  In addition, a hue improvement filter such as a color filter may be used in combination, or a color conversion filter that converts the emission color from the organic EL element into multiple colors using a phosphor. In the case of using a color conversion filter, the λmax of light emission of the organic EL element is preferably 480 nm or less.

<Sealing>
As a sealing means used for this invention, the method of adhere | attaching a sealing member, an electrode, and a support substrate with an adhesive agent can be mentioned, for example.

  As a sealing member, it should just be arrange | positioned so that the display area | region of an organic EL element may be covered, and concave plate shape or flat plate shape may be sufficient. Further, transparency and electrical insulation are not particularly limited.

  Specific examples include a glass plate, a polymer plate / film, and a metal plate / film. Examples of the glass plate include soda-lime glass, barium / strontium-containing glass, lead glass, aluminosilicate glass, borosilicate glass, barium borosilicate glass, and quartz. Examples of the polymer plate include polycarbonate, acrylic, polyethylene terephthalate, polyether sulfide, and polysulfone. Examples of the metal plate include those made of one or more metals or alloys selected from the group consisting of stainless steel, iron, copper, aluminum, magnesium, nickel, zinc, chromium, titanium, molybdenum, silicon, germanium, and tantalum.

  In the present invention, a polymer film and a metal film can be preferably used because the element can be thinned.

Furthermore, the polymer film has an oxygen permeability of 1 × 10 ⁻³ ml / (m ² · 24 h · atm) or less measured by a method according to JIS K 7126-1987, and a method according to JIS K 7129-1992. It is preferable that the water vapor permeability (25 ± 0.5 ° C., relative humidity (90 ± 2)% RH) measured in (1) is 1 × 10 ⁻³ g / (m ² · 24 h) or less.

  For processing the sealing member into a concave shape, sandblasting, chemical etching, or the like is used.

  Specific examples of the adhesive include photocuring and thermosetting adhesives having reactive vinyl groups such as acrylic acid oligomers and methacrylic acid oligomers, and moisture curing adhesives such as 2-cyanoacrylates. be able to. Moreover, heat | fever and chemical curing types (two-component mixing), such as an epoxy type, can be mentioned. Moreover, hot-melt type polyamide, polyester, and polyolefin can be mentioned. Moreover, a cationic curing type ultraviolet curing epoxy resin adhesive can be mentioned.

  In addition, since an organic EL element may deteriorate by heat processing, what can be adhesive-hardened from room temperature to 80 degreeC is preferable. A desiccant may be dispersed in the adhesive.

  Application | coating of the adhesive agent to a sealing part may use commercially available dispenser, and may print like screen printing.

  In addition, it is also preferable that the electrode and the organic layer are coated on the outside of the electrode facing the support substrate with the organic layer interposed therebetween, and an inorganic or organic layer is formed in contact with the support substrate to form a sealing film. . In this case, the material for forming the film may be any material that has a function of suppressing intrusion of elements that cause deterioration of elements such as moisture and oxygen. For example, silicon oxide, silicon dioxide, silicon nitride, or the like may be used. it can.

  Further, in order to improve the brittleness of the film, it is preferable to have a laminated structure of these inorganic layers and layers made of organic materials. The method for forming these films is not particularly limited. For example, vacuum deposition, sputtering, reactive sputtering, molecular beam epitaxy, cluster-ion beam method, ion plating method, plasma polymerization method, atmospheric pressure plasma A polymerization method, a plasma CVD method, a laser CVD method, a thermal CVD method, a coating method, or the like can be used.

  In the gap between the sealing member and the display area of the organic EL element, an inert gas such as nitrogen or argon, or an inert liquid such as fluorinated hydrocarbon or silicon oil can be injected in the gas phase and liquid phase. preferable. A vacuum is also possible. Moreover, a hygroscopic compound can also be enclosed inside.

  Examples of the hygroscopic compound include metal oxides (for example, sodium oxide, potassium oxide, calcium oxide, barium oxide, magnesium oxide, aluminum oxide) and sulfates (for example, sodium sulfate, calcium sulfate, magnesium sulfate, cobalt sulfate). Etc.), metal halides (eg calcium chloride, magnesium chloride, cesium fluoride, tantalum fluoride, cerium bromide, magnesium bromide, barium iodide, magnesium iodide etc.), perchloric acids (eg perchloric acid) Barium, magnesium perchlorate, and the like), and anhydrous salts are preferably used in sulfates, metal halides, and perchloric acids.

《Protective film, protective plate》
In order to increase the mechanical strength of the element, a protective film or a protective plate may be provided on the outer side of the sealing film on the side facing the support substrate with the organic layer interposed therebetween or on the sealing film. In particular, when the sealing is performed by the sealing film, the mechanical strength is not necessarily high, and thus it is preferable to provide such a protective film and a protective plate. As a material that can be used for this, the same glass plate, polymer plate / film, metal plate / film, and the like used for the sealing can be used, but the polymer film is light and thin. Is preferably used.

《Light extraction》
The organic EL element emits light inside a layer having a refractive index higher than that of air (refractive index is about 1.7 to 2.1) and can extract only about 15% to 20% of the light generated in the light emitting layer. It is generally said. This is because light incident on the interface (interface between the transparent substrate and air) at an angle θ greater than the critical angle causes total reflection and cannot be taken out of the device, or between the transparent electrode or light emitting layer and the transparent substrate. This is because the light is totally reflected between the light and the light is guided through the transparent electrode or the light emitting layer, and as a result, the light escapes in the direction of the element side surface.

  As a method for improving the light extraction efficiency, for example, a method of forming irregularities on the surface of the transparent substrate to prevent total reflection at the interface between the transparent substrate and the air (US Pat. No. 4,774,435), A method of improving efficiency by providing a light collecting property to a substrate (Japanese Patent Laid-Open No. 63-314795), a method of forming a reflective surface on a side surface of an element (Japanese Patent Laid-Open No. 1-220394), and light emission from a substrate A method of forming an antireflection film by introducing a flat layer having an intermediate refractive index between the bodies (Japanese Patent Laid-Open No. 62-172691), a flat having a lower refractive index between the substrate and the light emitter than the substrate A method of introducing a layer (Japanese Patent Laid-Open No. 2001-202827), a method of forming a diffraction grating between any one of a substrate, a transparent electrode layer and a light emitting layer (including between the substrate and the outside) (Japanese Patent Laid-Open No. 11-283951) Gazette).

  In the present invention, these methods can be used in combination with the organic EL device of the present invention. However, a method of introducing a flat layer having a lower refractive index than the substrate between the substrate and the light emitter, or a substrate, transparent A method of forming a diffraction grating between any layers of the electrode layer and the light emitting layer (including between the substrate and the outside) can be suitably used.

  In the present invention, by combining these means, it is possible to obtain an element having higher luminance or durability.

  When a medium having a low refractive index is formed between the transparent electrode and the transparent substrate with a thickness longer than the wavelength of light, the light extracted from the transparent electrode has a higher extraction efficiency to the outside as the refractive index of the medium is lower.

  Examples of the low refractive index layer include aerogel, porous silica, magnesium fluoride, and a fluorine-based polymer. Since the refractive index of the transparent substrate is generally about 1.5 to 1.7, the low refractive index layer preferably has a refractive index of about 1.5 or less. Further, it is preferably 1.35 or less.

  The thickness of the low refractive index medium is preferably at least twice the wavelength in the medium. This is because the effect of the low refractive index layer is diminished when the thickness of the low refractive index medium is about the wavelength of light and the electromagnetic wave that has exuded by evanescent enters the substrate.

  The method of introducing a diffraction grating into an interface or any medium that causes total reflection is characterized by a high effect of improving light extraction efficiency. This method uses the property that the diffraction grating can change the direction of light to a specific direction different from refraction by so-called Bragg diffraction such as first-order diffraction and second-order diffraction. Light that cannot be emitted due to total internal reflection between layers is diffracted by introducing a diffraction grating in any layer or medium (in a transparent substrate or transparent electrode), and the light is removed. I want to take it out.

  The introduced diffraction grating desirably has a two-dimensional periodic refractive index. This is because light emitted from the light-emitting layer is randomly generated in all directions, so in a general one-dimensional diffraction grating having a periodic refractive index distribution only in a certain direction, only light traveling in a specific direction is diffracted. Therefore, the light extraction efficiency does not increase so much.

  However, by making the refractive index distribution a two-dimensional distribution, light traveling in all directions is diffracted, and light extraction efficiency is increased.

  As described above, the position where the diffraction grating is introduced may be in any of the layers or in the medium (in the transparent substrate or in the transparent electrode), but is preferably in the vicinity of the organic light emitting layer where light is generated.

  At this time, the period of the diffraction grating is preferably about 1/2 to 3 times the wavelength of light in the medium.

  The arrangement of the diffraction grating is preferably two-dimensionally repeated, such as a square lattice, a triangular lattice, or a honeycomb lattice.

<Condenser sheet>
The organic EL device of the present invention is processed on the light extraction side of the substrate so as to provide, for example, a microlens array structure, or combined with a so-called condensing sheet, for example, with respect to a specific direction, for example, the device light emitting surface. By condensing in the front direction, the luminance in a specific direction can be increased.

  As an example of the microlens array, quadrangular pyramids having a side of 30 μm and an apex angle of 90 degrees are two-dimensionally arranged on the light extraction side of the substrate. One side is preferably 10 μm to 100 μm. If it becomes smaller than this, the effect of diffraction will generate | occur | produce and color, and if too large, thickness will become thick and is not preferable.

  As the condensing sheet, for example, a sheet that is put into practical use in an LED backlight of a liquid crystal display device can be used. As such a sheet, for example, a brightness enhancement film (BEF) manufactured by Sumitomo 3M Limited can be used. As the shape of the prism sheet, for example, the base material may be formed by forming a △ -shaped stripe having a vertex angle of 90 degrees and a pitch of 50 μm, or the vertex angle is rounded and the pitch is changed randomly. Other shapes may be used.

  Moreover, in order to control the light emission angle from a light emitting element, you may use together a light diffusing plate and a film with a condensing sheet. For example, a diffusion film (light-up) manufactured by Kimoto Co., Ltd. can be used.

<< Method for producing organic EL element >>
As an example of the method for producing the organic EL device of the present invention, a method for producing an organic EL device comprising an anode / hole injection layer / hole transport layer / light emitting layer / hole blocking layer / electron transport layer / cathode will be described.

  First, a desired electrode material, for example, a thin film made of an anode material is formed on a suitable substrate so as to have a film thickness of 1 μm or less, preferably 10 nm to 200 nm, to form an anode.

  Next, organic compound thin films such as a hole injection layer, a hole transport layer, a light emitting layer, a hole blocking layer, and an electron transport layer, which are organic EL element materials, are formed thereon.

  As a method for forming each of these layers, there are a vapor deposition method, a wet process (spin coating method, casting method, ink jet method, printing method) and the like as described above, but it is easy to obtain a homogeneous film and it is difficult to generate pinholes. In view of the above, film formation by a coating method such as a spin coating method, an ink jet method, or a printing method is preferable in the present invention.

  Examples of the liquid medium for dissolving or dispersing the organic EL material according to the present invention include ketones such as methyl ethyl ketone and cyclohexanone, fatty acid esters such as ethyl acetate, halogenated hydrocarbons such as dichlorobenzene, toluene, xylene, and mesitylene. Aromatic hydrocarbons such as cyclohexylbenzene, aliphatic hydrocarbons such as cyclohexane, decalin, and dodecane, and organic solvents such as DMF and DMSO can be used. Moreover, as a dispersion method, it can disperse | distribute by dispersion methods, such as an ultrasonic wave, high shear force dispersion | distribution, and media dispersion | distribution.

  After these layers are formed, a thin film made of a cathode material is formed thereon by 1 μm or less, preferably by a method such as vapor deposition or sputtering so that the film thickness is in the range of 50 nm to 200 nm. By providing, a desired organic EL element can be obtained.

  Further, it is also possible to reverse the production order and produce the cathode, the electron transport layer, the hole blocking layer, the light emitting layer, the hole transport layer, the hole injection layer, and the anode in this order. When a DC voltage is applied to the multicolor display device thus obtained, light emission can be observed by applying a voltage of about 2 to 40 V with the positive polarity of the anode and the negative polarity of the cathode. An alternating voltage may be applied. The alternating current waveform to be applied may be arbitrary.

<Application>
The organic EL element of the present invention can be used as a display device, a display, and various light emission sources. For example, lighting devices (home lighting, interior lighting), clock and liquid crystal backlights, billboard advertisements, traffic lights, light sources of optical storage media, light sources of electrophotographic copying machines, light sources of optical communication processors, light Although the light source of a sensor etc. are mentioned, It is not limited to this, Especially, it can use effectively for the use as a backlight of a liquid crystal display device, and a light source for illumination.

  In the organic EL element of the present invention, patterning may be performed by a metal mask, an ink jet printing method, or the like as needed during film formation. In the case of patterning, only the electrode may be patterned, the electrode and the light emitting layer may be patterned, or the entire layer of the element may be patterned. In the fabrication of the element, a conventionally known method is used. Can do.

  The light emission color of the organic EL device of the present invention and the compound according to the present invention is shown in FIG. 4.16 on page 108 of “New Color Science Handbook” (edited by the Japan Color Society, University of Tokyo Press, 1985). It is determined by the color when the result measured with the total CS-1000 (manufactured by Konica Minolta Sensing) is applied to the CIE chromaticity coordinates.

Further, when the organic EL element of the present invention is a white element, white means that the chromaticity in the CIE 1931 color system at 1000 cd / m ² is X when the 2 ° viewing angle front luminance is measured by the above method. = 0.33 ± 0.07 and Y = 0.33 ± 0.1.

  EXAMPLES Hereinafter, although an Example demonstrates this invention in detail, this invention is not limited to these. Moreover, the structure of the compound used in an Example is shown below.

  Compound E-1 was prepared according to Chem. Commun. , 2009, 3699-3701, and compound E-2 is a compound described as compound E of WO 2006/121811.

Example 1
<< Preparation of Monochromatic Light-Emitting Organic EL Element 1-1 >>
Transparent support provided with this ITO transparent electrode after patterning on a substrate (NH45 manufactured by NH Techno Glass Co., Ltd.) formed by depositing 100 nm of ITO (indium tin oxide) on a glass substrate of 100 mm × 100 mm × 1.1 mm as an anode The substrate was ultrasonically cleaned with isopropyl alcohol, dried with dry nitrogen gas, and subjected to UV ozone cleaning for 5 minutes.

This transparent support substrate was fixed to a substrate holder of a commercially available vacuum deposition apparatus, while 200 mg of α-NPD was put in a molybdenum resistance heating boat, and 200 mg of H-2 as a host compound was put in another resistance heating boat made of molybdenum. 200 mg of BAlq is put into another molybdenum resistance heating boat, 100 mg of comparative compound Ir-1 is put into another resistance heating boat made of molybdenum, and 200 mg of Alq ₃ is put into another resistance heating boat made of molybdenum, and attached to the vacuum deposition apparatus. It was.

Next, after reducing the vacuum chamber to 4 × 10 ⁻⁴ Pa, the heating boat containing α-NPD was heated by heating, and deposited on the transparent support substrate at a deposition rate of 0.1 nm / sec. The hole transport layer was provided.

  Further, the heating boat containing H-2 and comparative compound Ir-1 was energized and heated, and co-deposited on the hole transport layer at a deposition rate of 0.2 nm / second and 0.012 nm / second, respectively. A light emitting layer having a thickness of 40 nm was provided. In addition, the substrate temperature at the time of vapor deposition was room temperature.

  Further, the heating boat containing BAlq was energized and heated, and was deposited on the light emitting layer at a deposition rate of 0.1 nm / second to provide a 10 nm thick hole blocking layer.

In addition, the heating boat containing Alq ₃ is further energized and heated, and deposited on the hole blocking layer at a deposition rate of 0.1 nm / second to further provide an electron transport layer having a thickness of 40 nm. It was. In addition, the substrate temperature at the time of vapor deposition was room temperature.

  Next, a square perforated mask having substantially the same shape as the transparent electrode made of stainless steel was placed on the electron transport layer, and 0.5 nm of lithium fluoride was deposited as a cathode buffer layer and 110 nm of aluminum was deposited as a cathode. A cathode was formed, and an organic EL element 1-1 was produced.

<< Production of Organic EL Elements 1-2 to 1-25 >>
In the production of the organic EL device 1-1, H-2 as the host compound of the light emitting layer and the comparative compound Ir-1 as the dopant compound were replaced with the compounds shown in Table 6, and vapor deposition was performed so that the doping concentrations shown in Table 6 were obtained. Organic EL elements 1-2 to 1-25 were produced in the same manner except that the speed was adjusted.

<< Evaluation of organic EL elements >>
When evaluating the obtained organic EL elements 1-1 to 1-25, the non-light-emitting surface (cathode side) of each organic EL element after production was used using a glass substrate having a thickness of 300 μm as a glass cover for sealing. Then, an epoxy-based photo-curing adhesive (Lux Track LC0629B manufactured by Toagosei Co., Ltd.) is applied as a sealing material around the periphery, and this is placed on the cathode so as to be in close contact with the transparent support substrate and irradiated with UV light from the glass cover side. Then, it was cured and sealed, and an illumination device as shown in FIGS. 1 and 2 was formed and evaluated.

  FIG. 1 shows a schematic diagram of a lighting device, in which an organic EL element 101 is covered with a glass cover 102 (in addition, sealing with a glass cover is performed in a nitrogen atmosphere without bringing the organic EL element 101 into contact with the atmosphere. (In a high purity nitrogen gas atmosphere with a purity of 99.999% or more).

  FIG. 2 is a cross-sectional view of the lighting device, 105 is a cathode, 106 is an organic EL layer, and 107 is a glass substrate with a transparent electrode. The glass cover 102 is filled with nitrogen gas 108 and a water catching agent 109 is provided.

<< Evaluation of external extraction quantum efficiency and driving voltage >>
Each organic EL element is driven at a constant current with a current that gives room temperature (about 23 to 25 ° C.) and an initial luminance of 4000 cd / m ^2, and the drive current [mA] immediately after the start of lighting is measured, whereby the external extraction quantum efficiency ( η) was calculated. Here, CS-1000 (manufactured by Konica Minolta Sensing) was used for measurement of light emission luminance.

  At the same time, the drive voltage immediately after the start of lighting was measured.

《Half life》
The half-life was evaluated according to the measurement method shown below.

Each organic EL element is driven at a constant current with a current that gives an initial luminance of 4000 cd / m ² at room temperature (about 23 to 25 ° C.), and a time that is ½ (2000 cd / m ² ) of the initial luminance is obtained. A measure of half-life.

《Driving voltage rise》
About the element which evaluated half life, the drive voltage at the time of half brightness was measured, the difference with the drive voltage at the time of an evaluation start was calculated | required, and it was set as the drive voltage raise.

《DS generation (dark spot) evaluation》
The light emitting surface when each organic EL element was continuously lit by driving at a constant current with a current giving an initial luminance of 4000 cd / m ² at room temperature was visually evaluated. In each element after 10 hours of continuous lighting time by visual evaluation by 10 randomly extracted people ×: When the number of confirmed dark spots is 5 or more Δ: Number of confirmed dark spots is 1-4 Case ○: The case where the number of people who confirmed the dark spot was zero.

  The evaluation results are shown in Table 6.

  From Table 6, it is clear that the organic EL device of the present invention has a high external extraction quantum efficiency and a low driving voltage as compared with the comparative device, and accordingly has a long life. It can also be seen that the increase in drive voltage after half-life evaluation is suppressed, and the generation of dark spots is also suppressed.

  In particular, when doping is performed at a high concentration, the efficiency at the time of light emission is improved, and further, the light emission lifetime at the time of high luminance driving is improved.

Example 2
<< Preparation of White Light-Emitting Organic EL Element 2-1 >>
The electrode of the transparent electrode substrate used for the production of the organic EL element 1-1 of Example 1 was patterned to 50 mm × 50 mm, and α-NPD having a thickness of 25 nm was formed thereon as a hole transport layer similarly to Example 1. In addition, the heating boat containing H-10, the boat containing the comparative compound E-2, and the boat containing Ir-9 were energized independently to produce H-6 as a light-emitting host. The vapor deposition rate of Comparative Compound E-2 and Ir-9 as the light emitting dopant was adjusted to 100: 6: 0.6, vapor deposition was performed to a thickness of 30 nm, and a light emitting layer was provided.

Next, 10 nm of BAlq was deposited to provide a hole blocking layer. Furthermore, it was deposited Alq ₃ at 40nm an electron transporting layer.

  Next, as in Example 1, a square perforated mask having the same shape as the transparent electrode made of stainless steel was placed on the electron transport layer, and lithium fluoride 0.5 nm as the cathode buffer layer and aluminum 150 nm as the cathode. Vapor deposition and film formation were performed.

<< Production of Organic EL Elements 2-2 to 2-23 >>
In the production of the organic EL element 2-1, the compound shown in Table 7 represents H-6 and E-2 among H-6 which is a host compound of the light emitting layer, Ir-9 which is a dopant compound and comparative compound E-2. The organic EL elements 2-2 to 2-23 were produced in the same manner except that Ir-9 was constant and the deposition rate was adjusted so that the doping concentrations shown in Table 7 were obtained.

<< Evaluation of organic EL elements >>
When evaluating the obtained organic EL elements 2-2 to 2-23, a white lighting device was produced in the same manner as in Example 1, and the same evaluation was performed.

  The results obtained are shown in Table 7.

  From Table 7, it can be seen that the organic EL device of the present invention has a high external extraction quantum efficiency and a low driving voltage as compared with the comparative device, and accordingly has a long life. It can also be seen that the drive voltage rise after the half-life evaluation is suppressed, and the generation of dark spots is also suppressed.

  In particular, when doping is performed at a high concentration, the efficiency at the time of light emission with high luminance is improved, and the light emission life at the time of driving with high luminance is further improved.

DESCRIPTION OF SYMBOLS 101 Organic EL element 102 Glass cover 105 Cathode 106 Organic EL layer 107 Glass substrate with a transparent electrode 108 Nitrogen gas 109 Water catching agent

Claims (8)

In an organic electroluminescence device having an anode and a cathode and having at least one light emitting layer,
The light emitting layer contains at least one compound represented by the following general formula (I).

[Wherein, Ra, Rb and Rc each represents an aliphatic group, an aromatic hydrocarbon group or an aromatic heterocyclic group. R _{1 to} R ₄ each represent a hydrogen atom or a substituent. Ar represents an aliphatic group, an aromatic hydrocarbon group or an aromatic heterocyclic group. X and Y each represent a nitrogen atom or a carbon atom that may have a substituent. R _{1 to} R ₄ and Ar may be connected to each other to form a cyclic structure. When X and Y are carbon atoms having a substituent, the substituents on carbon may be connected to each other to form a cyclic structure, or may be connected to Ar to form a cyclic structure. M represents a group 8-10 transition metal element in the periodic table. m and n each represent 1 or 2, provided that n is smaller than the valence of M, n + m is 2 or 3, and is equal to half of the coordination number of M. ] The organic material according to claim 1, wherein the light emitting layer contains at least one compound represented by the following general formula (Ia), (Ib), (Ic), (Id) or (Ie). Electroluminescence element.

[In the general formulas (Ia) to (Ie), Ra, Rb, and Rc each represents an aliphatic group, an aromatic hydrocarbon group, or an aromatic heterocyclic group. R _{1 to} R ₁₂ each represent a hydrogen atom or a substituent. Ar represents an aliphatic group, an aromatic hydrocarbon group or an aromatic heterocyclic group. M represents a group 8-10 transition metal element in the periodic table. m and n each represent 1 or 2, and n is smaller than the valence of the central metal M. n + m is 2 or 3, which is equal to half the coordination number of M.
In the general formula (Ia), R ₁ to R ₆ and Ar may be connected to each other to form a cyclic structure. In the general formula (Ib), R _{2 to} R ₁₀ may be connected to each other to form a cyclic structure. In the general formula (Ic), R _{1 to} R ₄ , R ₁₁ and Ar may be connected to each other to form a cyclic structure. In the general formula (Id), R _{1 to} R ₄ , R ₁₂ and Ar may be linked to each other to form a cyclic structure. In the general formula (Ie), R _{1 to} R ₄ and Ar may be connected to each other to form a cyclic structure. ]   The light emitting layer contains at least one type of host compound and at least one type of guest compound, and is a compound represented by the general formula (1) according to claim 1, or a general formula (Ia) according to claim 2, ), (Ib), (Ic), (Id) or (Ie) at least one compound is contained as the guest compound, and is contained in an amount of 1% by mass or more based on the entire host compound. The organic electroluminescence element according to claim 1, wherein the organic electroluminescence element is formed.   The organic electroluminescence device according to claim 3, wherein the host compound has any one of a dibenzofuran structure, a dibenzothiophene structure, and a fluorene structure as a partial structure.   The organic electroluminescence device according to any one of claims 1 to 4, wherein the M is platinum or iridium.   A display device comprising the organic electroluminescence element according to claim 1.   An illuminating device comprising the organic electroluminescence element according to claim 1.   A compound represented by the general formula (I) according to claim 1, or a compound represented by any one of the general formulas (Ia), (Ib), (Ic), (Id) or (Ie) according to claim 2. Organic electroluminescent element material characterized by the above-mentioned.

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