Two ethynyl-linked pi-conjugated compounds with bright blue photoluminescence property were designed, synthesized and fully characterized. The main structures of them contain a pyrene as electron acceptor, a carbazole as electron donor linked by an ethynyl unit. This D-A system has increased electron mobility and high quantum yields. One of the compounds was sandwiched as luminescent in single- and double-layer devices. By incorporating Alq as electron transport layer, the double-layer device exhibits dramatically improved performances compared with the single-layer device. The compounds are promising blue light-emitting and electron-transport materials. (c) 2006 Elsevier B.V. All rights reserved.