Abstract A series of 1, 4-phenylene-spaced bis-imidazoles with fluorescence quantum yields up to 0.90 and large Stokes shifts have been designed and synthesized using recently developed regioselective direct CH arylation protocols. All the fluorophores show a bright blue-green emission that is well retained in the solid state. DFT calculations attributed their excellent luminescence properties to the significant planarization of the molecules in the ...