α-Oligofurans: An Emerging Class of Conjugated Oligomers for Organic Electronics

Pyrrole-Based Fully Non-fused Acceptor for Efficient and Stable Organic Solar Cells

Organic solar cells (OSCs) are still suffering from the low light utilization and unstable under ultraviolet irradiation. To tackle these challenges, we design and synthesize a non-fused acceptor based on 1-(2-butyloctyl)-1H-pyrrole as π-bridge unit, denoted as GS70, which serves as active layer in the front-cell for constructing tandem OSCs with a parallel configuration. Benefiting from the well-complementary absorption spectra with the rear-cell, GS70-based parallel tandem OSCs exhibit an improved photoelectron response over the range between 600-700 nm, yielding a high short-circuit current density of 28.4 mA cm-2. The improvement in light utilization translates to a power conversion efficiency of 19.4 %, the highest value among all parallel tandem OSCs. Notably, owing to the intrinsic stability of GS70, the manufactured parallel tandem OSCs retain 84.9 % of their initial PCE after continuous illumination for 1000 hours. Overall, this work offers novel insight into the molecular design of low-cost and stability non-fused acceptors, emphasizing the importance of adopting a parallel tandem configuration for achieving efficient light harvesting and improved photostability in OSCs.

π-Conjugated oligofuran macrocycles

This Feature Article overviews a new class of π-conjugated materials - macrocyclic furans. Starting from their synthesis, we review their unique structural, optical and electronic properties, chemical reactivity, and potential application as synthons. Finally, we discuss the study of oligofuran macrocycles as a model system for exploring the concept of global aromaticity and the size limitation of Hückel's rule in neutral macrocycles.

Transition-Metal-Free Continuous-Flow Synthesis of 2,5-Diaryl Furans: Access to Medicinal Building Blocks and Optoelectronic Materials

The direct transformation of 1,3-dienes into valuable 2,5-diarylfurans using transition-metal-free conditions is presented. By employing a simple oxidation─dehydration sequence on readily accessible 1,3-dienes, important 2,5-diarylfuran building blocks frequently used in medicinal and material chemistry are prepared. The oxidation step is realized using singlet oxygen, and the intermediate endoperoxide is dehydrated under metal-free conditions and at ambient temperature using the Appel reagent. Notably, this sequence can be streamlined into continuous flow, thereby eliminating the isolation of the intermediate, often unstable endoperoxide. This leads to a significant improvement in isolated yields (ca. 27% average increase) of the 2,5-diarylfurans while also increasing safety and reducing waste. Our transition-metal-free synthetic approach to 2,5-diarylfurans delivers several important furan building blocks used commonly in medicinal chemistry and as optoelectronic materials, including short-chain linearly conjugated furan oligomers. Consequently, we also complete a short study of the optical and electrochemical properties of a selection of these novel materials.

Cu(ii)-catalyzed aerobic oxidative coupling of furans with indoles enables expeditious synthesis of indolyl-furans with blue fluorescence

With the purpose of incorporating sustainability in chemical processes, there has been a renewed focus on utilizing earth-abundant metal catalysts to expand the repertoire of organic reactions and processes. In this work, we have explored the atom-economic oxidative coupling between two important electron-rich heterocycles - indoles and furans - using commonly available, inexpensive metal catalyst CuCl2·2H2O (<0.25$ per g) to develop an expeditious synthesis of indolyl-furans. Moreover, the reaction proceeded well in the presence of the so-called 'ultimate oxidant' - air, without the need for any external ligand or additive. The reaction was found to be scalable and to work even under partially aqueous conditions. This makes the methodology highly economical, practical, operationally simple and sustainable. In addition, the methodology provides direct access to novel indole-furan-thiophene (IFT)-based electron-rich π-conjugated systems, which show green-yellow fluorescence with large Stokes shift and high quantum yields. Mechanistic investigations reveal that the reaction proceeds through chemoselective oxidation of indole by the metal catalyst followed by the nucleophilic attack by furan.

Design of Furan-Based Acceptors for Organic Photovoltaics

We explore a series of furan-based non-fullerene acceptors and report their optoelectronic properties, solid-state packing, photodegradation mechanism and application in photovoltaic devices. Incorporating furan building blocks leads to the expected enhanced backbone planarity, reduced band gap and red-shifted absorption of these acceptors. Still, their position in the molecule is critical for stability and device performance. We found that the photodegradation of these acceptors originates from two distinct pathways: electrocyclic photoisomerization and Diels-Alder cycloaddition of singlet oxygen. These mechanisms are of general significance to most non-fullerene acceptors, and the photostability depends strongly on the molecular structure. Placement of furans next to the acceptor termini leads to better photostability, well-balanced hole/electron transport, and significantly improved device performance. Methylfuran as the linker offers the best photostability and power conversion efficiency (>14 %), outperforming all furan-based acceptors reported to date and all indacenodithiophene-based acceptors. Our findings show the possibility of photostable furan-based alternatives to the currently omnipresent thiophene-based photovoltaic materials.

Guided diffusion for inverse molecular design

The holy grail of materials science is de novo molecular design, meaning engineering molecules with desired characteristics. The introduction of generative deep learning has greatly advanced efforts in this direction, yet molecular discovery remains challenging and often inefficient. Herein we introduce GaUDI, a guided diffusion model for inverse molecular design that combines an equivariant graph neural net for property prediction and a generative diffusion model. We demonstrate GaUDI's effectiveness in designing molecules for organic electronic applications by using single- and multiple-objective tasks applied to a generated dataset of 475,000 polycyclic aromatic systems. GaUDI shows improved conditional design, generating molecules with optimal properties and even going beyond the original distribution to suggest better molecules than those in the dataset. In addition to point-wise targets, GaUDI can also be guided toward open-ended targets (for example, a minimum or maximum) and in all cases achieves close to 100% validity of generated molecules.

Conformational Effect on the Excitonic States of 2-Phenylpyridine Oligomers: Ab Initio Studies and Analysis

In this work, we report the effect of different conformations of 2-phenylpyridine oligomers ((PhPy)n=1-5) on the excited state properties from the results obtained at the RI-ADC(2)/def2-TZVP level. Three different conformers, namely, A, B, and C, are considered for each oligomer. All the oligomers of conformer A have linear-type structures, whereas conformers B and C form helical structures at n = 5 and n = 3, respectively. The differences in the geometries of the three conformers are reflected in the UV and CD spectra. The UV spectra of conformer A show high-intensity peaks compared to the conformers B and C, for each oligomer. While the helical oligomers of conformers B and C show high-intensity CD bands, the intensities of CD bands for all of the oligomers of conformer A are weaker. Analysis of the properties of the first five excited states in (PhPy)5 is carried out using three descriptors, and the results reveal that these are partially charge transfer states.

Alternating behavior in furan-acetylene macrocycles reveals the size-dependency of Hückel's rule in neutral molecules

Aromaticity can be assigned by Hückel's rule, which predicts that planar rings with delocalized (4n + 2) π-electrons are aromatic, whereas those with 4n π-electrons are antiaromatic. However, for neutral rings, the maximal value of "n" to which Hückel's rule applies remains unknown. Large macrocycles exhibiting global ring current can serve as models for addressing this question, but the global ring current are often overshadowed in these molecules by the local ring current of the constituent units. Here, we present a series of furan-acetylene macrocycles, ranging from the pentamer to octamer, whose neutral states display alternating contributions from global aromatic and antiaromatic ring currents. We find that the odd-membered macrocycles display global aromatic characteristics, whereas the even-membered macrocycles display contributions from globally antiaromatic ring current. These factors are expressed electronically (oxidation potentials), optically (emission spectra), and magnetically (chemical shifts), and DFT calculations predict global ring current alternations up to 54 π-electrons.

De Novo Synthesis of α-Oligo(arylfuran)s and Its Application in OLED as Hole-Transporting Material

Tuning the photophysical properties of π-conjugated oligomers by functionalization of skeleton, to achieve an optically and electronically advantageous building block for organic semiconductor materials is a vital yet challenging task. In this work, a series of structurally well-defined polyaryl-functionalized α-oligofurans, in which aryl groups are introduced precisely into each of the furan units, are rapidly and efficiently synthesized by de novo metal-free synthesis of α-bi(arylfuran) monomers for the first time. This new synthetic strategy nicely circumvents the cumbersome substituent introduction process in the later stage by the preinstallation of the desired aryl groups in the starting material. The characterization of α-oligo(arylfuran)s demonstrates that photoelectric properties of coplanar α-oligo(arylfuran)s can be tuned through varying aryl groups with different electrical properties. These novel α-oligo(arylfuran)s have good hole transport capacity and can function as hole-transporting layers in organic light-emitting diodes, which is indicative of significant breakthrough in the application of α-oligofurans materials in OLEDs. And our findings offer an avenue for the ingenious use of α-oligo(arylfuran)s as p-type organic semiconductors for OLEDs.

Boundaries of the Hyperconjugation from π-Extended Six-Membered Phosphorus Heterocycles

In the context of materials science, six-membered phosphorus heterocycles are intriguing building blocks due to their tunable properties through phosphorus post-functionalization and their unique hyperconjugative effects arising from the phosphorus substituents that contribute to further tuning the optoelectronic properties of the system. Seeking for the discovery of improved materials, the latter features have triggered an astonishing evolution of molecular architectures based on phosphorus heterocycles. Theoretical calculations showed that the hyperconjugation causes a reduction in the S₀-S₁ gap, which strongly depends on the nature of both the P-substituent and the π-conjugated core, but where are the limits? Outlining the hyperconjugative effects of six-membered phosphorus heterocycles would allow scientists to know how to design next-generation organophosphorus systems with enhanced properties. Herein, we discovered that, in cationic six-membered phosphorus heterocycles, an increase in the hyperconjugation does not affect the S₀-S₁ gap anymore; i.e., quaternizing the phosphorus atoms leads to properties that go beyond those provoked by hyperconjugative effects. DFT calculations revealed that the latter is particularly marked in phosphaspiro derivatives. Our detailed investigations spotlight the potential of π-extended systems based on six-membered phosphorus spiroheterocycles for accessing properties beyond those achieved to date through hyperconjugative effects, thus laying the groundwork for new research possibilities toward improved organophosphorus systems.

A Macrocyclic Furan with Accessible Oxidation States: Switching Between Aromatic and Antiaromatic Global Ring Currents

Macrocyclic furans are predicted to switch between global aromaticity and antiaromaticity, depending on their oxidation states. However, the macrocyclic furans reported to date are stabilized by electron withdrawing groups, which result in inaccessible oxidation states. To circumvent this problem, a post-macrocyclization approach was applied to introduce methylene-substituted macrocyclic furans, which display an extremely low oxidation potential of -0.23 vs. Fc/Fc+ , and are partially oxidized in ambient conditions. Additional oxidation to the dication results in aromaticity switching to a global 30πe- aromatic state, as indicated by the formation of a strong diatropic current observed in the 1 H NMR spectrum. NICS and ACID calculations support this trend and provide evidence for a different pathway for the global current in the neutral and dicationic states. According to these findings, macrocyclic furans can be rendered as promising p-type materials with stable oxidation states.

Correlation of solid-state order to optoelectronic behavior in heterocyclic oligomers

Here we address a longstanding challenge in the field of optoelectronic materials by evaluating the molecular and solid-state arrangements of heterocyclic oligomers and correlating their crystal structures to their optical properties.

Acid-Catalyzed Cascade Reaction of 2-Alkylfurans with α,β-Unsaturated Ketones: A Shortcut to 2,3,5-Trisubstituted Furans

The convergent one-pot method toward trisubstituted furans has been developed. The key transformation behind the synthetic protocol comprises the cascade acid-catalyzed conjugated addition of furans to commercially available or easily accessible α,β-unsaturated ketones followed by the rearrangement of the intermediate Michael adducts into isomeric furans. The prospect of utilizing the target products as building blocks for the preparation of potential functional molecules for organic electronics has been demonstrated.

Optical Spectra of Oligofurans: A Theoretical Approach to the Transition Energies, Reorganization Energies, and the Vibronic Activity

There is experimental evidence of high vibronic activity that accompanies the allowed transition between the ground state and the lowest electronic singlet excited state of oligofurans that contain two, three, and four furan rings. The absorption and emission spectra of the three lowest oligofurans measured at liquid nitrogen temperature show distinct fine structures that are reproduced using the projection-based model of vibronic coupling (with Dushinsky rotation included) parameterized utilizing either Density Functional Theory (DFT, with several different exchange-correlation functionals) or ab initio (CC2) quantum chemistry calculations. Using as a reference the experimental data concerning the electronic absorption and fluorescence for the eight lowest oligofurans, we first analyzed the performance of the exchange-correlation functionals for the electronic transition energies and the reorganization energies. Subsequently, we used the best functionals alongside with the CC2 method to explore how the reorganization energies are distributed among the totally symmetric vibrations, identify the normal modes that dominate in the fine structures present in the absorption and emission bands, and trace their evolution with the increasing number of rings in the oligofuran series. Confrontation of the simulated spectra with the experiment allows for the verification of the performance of the selected DFT functionals and the CC2 method.

Ring Size Determines the Conformation, Global Aromaticity and Photophysical Properties of Macrocyclic Oligofurans

In π-conjugated macrocycles, there is a trade-off between the global and local expression of effects such as aromaticity, with the outcome of the trade-off determined by the geometry and aromaticity of the constituent units. Compared with other aromatic rings, the aromatic character of furan is relatively small, and therefore global effects in macrocyclic furans are expected to be more pronounced. Following our introduction of macrocyclic oligofuran, we present the first synthesis of a series of π-conjugated bifuran macrocycles of various ring sizes, from trimer to hexamer, and characterize them using both computational and experimental methods. The properties of macrocyclic oligofurans change considerably with size: The smaller trimer is rigid, weakly emissive and planar as revealed by its single crystal structure, and displays global antiaromaticity. In contrast, the larger pentamer and hexamer are flexible, emissive, have non-planar structures, and exhibit local aromaticity. The results are supported by NICS and ACID calculations that indicate the global antiaromaticity of planar furan macrocycles, and by transient absorption measurements showing sharp absorption band for the trimer and only the internal conversion decay pathway.

Bottom-up modular synthesis of well-defined oligo(arylfuran)s

Oligofurans have attracted great attention in the field of materials over the last decades because of their several advantages, such as strong fluorescence, charge delocalization, and increased solubility. Although unsubstituted or alkyl-substituted oligofurans have been well-established, there is an increasing demand for the development of the aryl decorated oligofuran with structural diversity and unrevealed properties. Here, we report the bottom-up modular construction of chemically and structurally well-defined oligo(arylfuran)s by de novo synthesis of α,β′-bifuran monomers and late-stage bromination, stannylation and subsequent coupling reaction. The preliminary study of the photophysical properties demonstrated that the polarity-sensitive fluorescence emission and high quantum yields in THF solution could be achieved by modulating the aryl groups on the oligo(arylfuran)s. These twisted molecules constitute a new class of oligofuran backbone useful for structure−activities relationship studies. Meanwhile, the experimental studies and calculations showed that tetrafurans have appropriate HOMO energy levels, and could therefore potentially be high-performance p-type semiconductors.

Oligofurans have attracted great attention because of their strong fluorescence, charge delocalization, and increased solubility. Here the authors show a bottom-up modular construction of chemically and structurally well-defined oligo(arylfuran)s by de novo synthesis of α,β′-bifuran monomers and late-stage bromination, stannylation and subsequent coupling reaction.

Recent Advances of Furan and Its Derivatives Based Semiconductor Materials for Organic Photovoltaics

The state-of-the-art bulk-heterojunction (BHJ)-type organic solar cells (OSCs) have exhibited power conversion efficiencies (PCEs) of exceeding 18%. Thereinto, thiophene and its fused-ring derivatives play significant roles in facilitating the development of OSCs due to their excellent semiconducting natures. Furan as thiophene analogue, is a ubiquitous motif in naturally occurring organic compounds. Driven by the advantages of furan, such as less steric hindrance, good solubility, excellent stacking, strong rigidity and fluorescence, biomass derived fractions, more and more research groups focus on the furan-based materials for using in OSCs in the past decade. To systematically understand the developments of furan-based photovoltaic materials, the relationships between the molecular structures, optoelectronic properties, and photovoltaic performances for the furan-based semiconductor materials including single furan, benzofuran, benzodifuran (BDF) (containing thienobenzofuran (TBF)), naphthodifurans (NDF), and polycyclic furan are summarized. Finally, the empirical regularities and perspectives of the development of this kind of new organic semiconductor materials are extracted.

Cu-Catalyzed Dehydrogenative C-O Cyclization for the Synthesis of Furan-Fused Thienoacenes

The first Cu-catalyzed dehydrogenative C-O cyclization for the synthesis of furan-fused thienoacenes is described. A variety of heteroacenes including a thieno[3,2-b]furan or a thieno[2,3-b]furan skeleton were synthesized by intramolecular C-H/O-H coupling. The use of a mixed solvent of N-methyl-2-pyrrolidone, ethylene glycol monomethyl ether, and toluene was essential for suppressing side reactions and efficiently promoting the reaction. Double C-O cyclization was also conducted to afford highly π-expanded furan-fused thienoacenes.

Exploring the Electronic Properties of Extended Benzofuran-Cyanovinyl Derivatives Obtained from Lignocellulosic and Carbohydrate Platforms Raw Materials

Two series of linear extended benzofuran derivatives associating cyanovinyl unit and phenyl or furan moieties obtained from benzaldehyde-lignocellulosic (Be series) or furaldehyde -saccharide (Fu series) platforms were prepared in order to investigate their emission and electrochemical properties. For the fluorescence in solution and solid states, contrasting results between the two series were demonstrated. For Be series a net aggregation induced emission effect was observed with high fluorescence quantum yield for the solid state. A [2+2] cycloaddition under irradiation at 350 nm was also revealed for one derivative of Be series. In contrast, for Fu series the fluorescence in solution is higher than in the solid state. The X-ray crystallography studies for the compounds reveal the formation of strong π-π stacking for the derivatives without emissive property in the solid state and the presence of essentially lateral contacts for emissive compounds. Taking advantage of the propensity to develop 2D π-stacking mode for the more extended derivative with a central furan cycle, organic field effect transistors presenting hole mobility have been made.

Design, synthesis, and properties of a six-membered oligofuran macrocycle

In this report, the synthesis and properties of an ester-functionalized macrocyclic sexifuran (C6FE) are presented.

Elastic Organic Crystals of π-Conjugated Molecules: New Concept for Materials Chemistry

It is generally believed that organic single crystals composed of a densely packed arrangement of anisotropic, organic small molecules are less useful as functional materials due to their mechanically inflexible and brittle nature, compared to polymers bearing flexible chains and thereby exhibiting viscoelasticity. Nevertheless, organic crystals have attracted much attention because of their tunable optoelectronic properties and a variety of elegant crystal habits and unique ordered or disordered molecular packings arising from the anisotropic molecular structures. However, the recent emergence of flexible organic crystal materials showing plasticity and elasticity has considerably changed the concept of organic single crystals. In this review, the author summarizes the state-of-the-art development of flexible organic crystal materials, especially functional elastic organic crystals which are expected to provide a foothold for the next generation of organic crystal materials.

Expanded benzofuran-decorated twistacene derivatives: synthesis, characterization and single-component white electroluminescence

Two novel phenanthro[9,10-b]benzofuran and pyreno[4,5-b]benzofuran modified twistacene derivatives, 9 and 10, have been successfully synthesized via Suzuki coupling and then characterized. The photophysical properties were examined and DFT calculations were carried out in a comparative manner, and both molecules emitted strong blue light in organic solvents and in the solid state. Impressively, fabricated electroluminescent devices based on these single emitters radiate pure white light.

O-Annulation to Polycyclic Aromatic Hydrocarbons: A Tale of Optoelectronic Properties from Five- to Seven-Membered Rings

We take advantage of the Pummerer oxidative annulation reaction to extend PAHs through the formation of an intramolecular C-O bond with a suitable phenol substituent. Depending on the peripheral topology of the PAH precursor (e.g., pyrene, boron-dipyrromethene, or perylene diimide) five-, six-, and seven-membered O-containing rings could be obtained. The effect of the O-annulations on the optoelectronic properties were studied by various methods with the pyrano-annulated pyrene and BODIPY derivatives depicting quantitative emission quantum yields.

Synthesis of 3-fluoro-2,5-disubstituted furans through ring expansion of gem-difluorocyclopropyl ketones

The synthesis of 3-fluoro-2,5-disubstituted furans from gem-difluorocyclopropyl ketones was accomplished using trifluoromethanesulfonic acid (CF₃SO₃H) through ring expansion owing to the activation of the carbonyl group in the starting material. The present synthesis of 3-fluorofurans tolerates substrates designed for products with aromatic substituents at the C-2 and C-5 positions.

Recent advances in poly(3,4-ethylenedioxyselenophene) and related polymers

This review highlights the recent progress in synthesis, properties, applications and future outlook of PEDOS based conjugated polymers.

New fused conjugated molecules with fused thiophene and pyran units for organic electronic materials

Rigid and planar conjugated molecules have substantial significance due to their potential applications in organic electronics. Herein we report two highly fused ladder type conjugated molecules, TTCTTC and TTTCTTTC, with up to 10 fused rings in which the fused-thiophene rings are fused to the chromeno[6,5,4-def]chromene unit. Both molecules show high HOMO levels and accordingly they can be oxidized into their radical cations with absorptions extending to 1300 nm in the presence of trifluoroacetic acid. Thin films of TTCTTC and TTTCTTTC exhibit p-type semiconductor properties with hole mobilities up to 0.39 cm² V⁻¹ s⁻¹. Moreover, TTCTTC shows a high fluorescence quantum yield of up to 16.5% in the solid state.

Fused conjugated molecules TTCTTC and TTTCTTTC with up to ten heterocycles were constructed by fusing fused-thiophene to the chromeno[6,5,4-def]chromene unit.

A macrocyclic oligofuran: synthesis, solid state structure and electronic properties

The first π-conjugated macrocyclic system with an oligofuran backbone display planar conformation and forms large π-aggregates, in contrast to the twisted conformation of small macrocyclic oligothiophenes.

We report the first π-conjugated macrocyclic system with an oligofuran backbone. The calculated HOMO–LUMO gap is similar to that of the corresponding linear polymer, indicating a remarkable electron delocalization. The X-ray structure reveals a planar conformation, in contrast to the twisted conformation of macrocyclic oligothiophenes. The intermolecular π–π stacking distance is extremely small (3.17 Å), indicating very strong interactions. The macrocycle forms large π-aggregates in solution and shows a tendency toward highly ordered multilayer adsorption at the solid–liquid interface. The face-on orientation of molecules explains the higher hole mobility observed in the out-of-plane direction.

A Raman Spectroscopic and Computational Study of New Aromatic Pyrimidine-Based Halogen Bond Acceptors

Two new aromatic pyrimidine-based derivatives designed specifically for halogen bond directed self-assembly are investigated through a combination of high-resolution Raman spectroscopy, X-ray crystallography, and computational quantum chemistry. The vibrational frequencies of these new molecular building blocks, pyrimidine capped with furan (PrmF) and thiophene (PrmT), are compared to those previously assigned for pyrimidine (Prm). The modifications affect only a select few of the normal modes of Prm, most noticeably its signature ring breathing mode, ν1. Structural analyses afforded by X-ray crystallography, and computed interaction energies from density functional theory computations indicate that, although weak hydrogen bonding (C–H···O or C–H···N interactions) is present in these pyrimidine-based solid-state co-crystals, halogen bonding and π-stacking interactions play more dominant roles in driving their molecular-assembly.

Preparation and Single Crystal Structure Determination of the First Biobased Furan-Polydiacetylene Using Topochemical Polymerization

Crystal structure elucidations of bio-based polymers provide invaluable data regarding structure–property relationships. In this work, we achieved synthesis and Single Crystal X-ray Diffraction (SCXRD) structural determination of a new furan-based polydiacetylene (PDA) derivative with carbamate (urethane) functionality. Firstly, diacetylene (DA) monomers were found to self-assemble in the crystalline state in such a way that the polymerization theoretically occurred in two different directions. Indeed, for both directions, geometrical parameters for the reactive alignment of DA are satisfied and closely related with the optimal geometrical parameters for DA topochemical polymerization (d(1) = 4.7–5.2 Å, d(2) ≤ 3.8 Å, θ ≈ 45°). However, within the axis of hydrogen bonds (HB), the self-assembling monomers display distances and angles (d(1) = 4.816 Å, d(2) = 3.822 Å, θ = 51°) that deviate more from the ideal values than those in the perpendicular direction (d(1) = 4.915Å, d(2) = 3.499Å, θ ≈ 45°). As expected from these observations, the thermal topochemical polymerization occurs in the direction perpendicular to the HB and the resulting PDA was characterized by SCXRD.

Optimizing ligand structure for low-loading and fast catalysis for alkynyl-alcohol and -amine cyclization

The catalytic performance was evaluated for a series of [Ru(Cp/Cp*)(P^R₂N^R′₂)(MeCN)]PF₆ complexes, in which the steric and electronic properties of the primary coordination sphere were varied (R = Ph, t-Bu, Bn; and Cp vs. Cp*).

J, Pradhan SC, Lingamoorthy S, P. R. N, M. V. C, Mishra RK, K. N. NU, John J, Soman S. Indolo[3,2-b]indole donor-based D–π–A dyes for DSCs: investigating the role of π-spacers towards recombination

A detailed investigation of recombination, employing novel indolo[3,2-b]indole donor-based organic D–π–A dyes with variable π-spacers, using various perturbation techniques.

Recent advances in intramolecular C–O/C–N/C–S bond formationviaC–H functionalization

This review presents the construction of C–X bonds (X = O/N/S) by using intramolecular C–H functionalization for the synthesis of heterocyclic compounds.

Solid-State Emission Enhancement via Molecular Engineering of Benzofuran Derivatives

A series of linear benzofuran derivatives consisting of either a vinylene or a cyanovinylene were prepared in order to investigate their emission properties. The X-ray crystallography of structurally similar derivatives was also evaluated. The crystalline structures of the vinylene derivatives showed only lateral contacts that involved the benzofurans and no π-stacking. In contrast, π-stacking was observed for the bisbenzofuran and benzofuran-phenyl cyanovinylene derivatives. No intermolecular π-π stacking was observed for the extended cyanovinylene structures. Intermolecular bonding between the nitrile and a furan atom was found. The fluorescence quantum yields (Φ_fl) of the vinylene derivatives were consistently high (>50%) in both solution and the crystal state. The exception was the benzofuran-furan-vinylene-phenyl, the Φ_fl of which was <10% when in the solid state. The cyanovinylene counterparts emitted weakly in solution (Φ_fl < 2%). Their luminogenic property was demonstrated with a ca. 15-fold increase in emission in the solid state. A 6-fold emission enhancement was also found when they were aggregated in a 90 vol% methanol/water mixture. The solid-state emission enhancement of the cyanovinylene benzofurans was in part attributable to intermolecular contacts that suppressed excited-state deactivation by molecular motion.

A comparative analysis of symmetric diketopyrrolopyrrole-cored small conjugated molecules with aromatic flanks: From geometry to charge transport

Diketopyrrolopyrrole (DPP) derivatives are promising compounds for application in organic electronics. Here, we investigate several symmetrical N-unsubstituted and N-methyl substituted DPPs which differ in the heteroatom in the aromatic flanks. The conformational, electronic, and optical properties are characterized for single molecules in vacuum or a solvent. The intermolecular interactions are evaluated for interacting dimers. Here, a number of stacking geometries is tested, and dimers with mutual orientation of the molecules corresponding to the minimal binding energies are determined. The predicted charge carrier mobilities for stacks having minimal binding energies corroborate experimentally measured values. We conclude that DFT prediction of such stacks is a promising and computationally inexpensive approach to a rough estimation of transport properties. Additionally, the super-cell of the experimentally resolved crystal structure is used to study the dynamics and to compute the charge transport along the hopping pathways. We discuss obtained high mobilities and relate them to the symmetry of DPP core. © 2018 Wiley Periodicals, Inc.

Four-coordinate triarylborane synthesis via cascade B-Cl/C-B cross-metathesis and C-H bond borylation

To develop a simple and efficient synthetic method for four-coordinate triarylboranes, we herein describe a tandem highly selective B-Cl/C-B cross-metathesis of two of the same or different arylboranes and C-H bond borylation to synthesize four-coordinate triarylboranes with a broad substrate scope. By switching substituent groups of the target molecules, different emission wavelengths can be achieved from 467 nm to 583 nm with aggregation-induced emission (AIE) properties.