A donor-bridge-donor compound for blue light-emitting with triphenylamine as donor and pentiptycene derivative units as bridge was synthesized via Sonogashira reaction. The chemical structure was confirmed by NMR and MALDI-TOF MS. It emits blue light peaked at 442 nm with a FWHM of 59 nm in CH2Cl2. Fluorescent quantum efficiency in THF is 82% relative to 9,10-diphenylanthracene. A slight hypsochromic shift was found in its drop-cast film. Cyclic voltammetry revealed that it has high HOMO level corresponding to hole transporting character.(C) 2007 Qing Guo He. Published by Elsevier B.V. on behalf of Chinese Chemical Society. All rights reserved.