A series of 1,4-distyrylbenzene derivatives containing 1,1-dicyanovinyl moieties were designed as poly-p-phenylenevinylene analogs to obtain the red electroluminescence assisted by the computational results. Based on the subsequent synthesis and optical studies, the present work indicated that introduction of 1,1-dicyano group as electron receptor in PPV skeleton could shift the electroluminescence significantly to the red region. The present work has shown a successful strategy to tune the emission of PPV analogs based on the theoretical design and organic synthesis. (c) 2007 Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved.