Four different 2-(10-aryl)anthracen-9-yl)pyridine derivatives 5a-d were synthesized via the Suzuki cross-coupling reaction. Photo-physical characteristics of these materials having strong electron donating or electron withdrawing groups were explored. Multilayer small molecule organic light emitting diodes without any dopant were fabricated in the following sequence: Indium tin oxide/4,4'-bis(N-(1-naphthyl)-N-phenylamino)biphenyl (50 nm)/5a-d (30 nm)/4,7-diphenyl-1,10-phenanthroline (30 nm)/LiF/Al. The electroluminescent property of the device fabricated with 5d as an emitter exhibited a high external quantum efficiency of 3.80% (at around 1 mA/cm(2)) with Commission Internationale De L'Eclairage coordinates of (0.14, 0.25). (C) 2013 Elsevier B. V. All rights reserved.