White organic light-emitting devices (WOLEDs) have attracted considerable attention because of their good potential for various lighting applications. Among these devices, WOLEDs based on polymers (WPLEDs) are of particular interest. We report here a theoretical investigation of the white-light emission from a single-polymer system with simultaneous blue (polyfluorene as a blue host) and orange (2,1,3-benzothiadiazole-based derivative as an orange dopant) emission. A variety of theoretical methods are used and evaluated to calculate electronic and optical properties of polyfluorene and 2,1,3-benzothiadiazole-based derivatives. Simulated electronic and optical properties are found to agree well with available experimental measurements. The influence of the "CH"/N heterosubstitution on the electronic and optical properties of the 2,1,3-benzothiadiazole-based derivative is considered. Furthermore, we find that the electronic and optical properties of "CH"/N substitution derivatives can be tuned by symmetrically adding suitable electron-donating groups on N,N-disubstituted amino groups, implying good candidates as orange dopants in WPLEDs with polyfluorene as a blue-light-emitting host. Solvent (dichloromethane) effects on the electronic and optical properties of 2,1,3-benzothiadiazole-based derivatives have been investigated. In addition, low reorganization energy values of holes for designed 2,1,3-benzothiadiazole-based derivatives within the framework of the charge hopping model suggest them to be good hole transfer materials. (C) 2009 Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved.