Near-Infrared Responsive Conjugated Polymers to 1.5 μm and Beyond: Synthesis and Electrochromic Switching Application

Tuning Dipole Orientation of 2,6-Azulene Units in Conjugated Copolymers by C–H Activation Strategy toward High-Performance Organic Semiconductor

Azulene has aroused widespread interest for constructing optoelectronic materials. However, controlling the dipole orientation of 2,6-azulene units in the conjugated polymer backbone is a significant challenge so far. Herein, by C-H activation strategy, three 2,6-azulene-TPD-based conjugated copolymers with different dipole arrangements were synthesized, where TPD = thieno[3,4-c]pyrrole-4,6-dione. The dipole arrangements of 2,6-azulene units were random for P(AzTPD-1), head-to-head/tail-to-tail for P(AzTPD-2), and head-to-tail for P(AzTPD-3). These polymers exhibited unipolar n-type semiconductor characteristics in organic field effect transistors. Moreover, regioregular polymer P(AzTPD-3) displayed the best device performance with an electron mobility of up to 0.33 cm² V^-1 s^-1, which makes P(AzTPD-3) a high-performance n-type polymeric semiconductor. These results demonstrate that incorporation of 2,6-azulene units into the polymeric backbone together with the regulation of the dipole orientation of 2,6-azulene units is an effective strategy for obtaining high-performance organic optoelectronic materials.

Chemical syntheses and salient features of azulene-containing homo- and copolymers

Azulene is a non-alternant, aromatic hydrocarbon with many exciting characteristics such as having a dipole moment, bright color, stimuli responsiveness, anti-Kasha photophysics, and a small HOMO-LUMO gap when compared to its isomer, naphthalene. These properties make azulene-containing polymers an intriguing entity in the field of functional polymers, especially for organic electronic applications like organic field-effect transistors (OFET) and photovoltaic (PV) cells. Since azulene has a fused five and seven-membered ring structure, it can be incorporated onto the polymer backbone through either of these rings or by involving both the rings. These azulene-connection patterns can influence the properties of the resulting polymers and the chemical synthesis in comparison to the electrochemical synthesis can be advantageous in obtaining desired patterns of substitution. Hence, this review article presents a comprehensive overview of the developments that have taken place in the last three decades in the field of chemical syntheses of azulene-containing homo- and copolymers, including brief descriptions of their key properties.

Synthesis and Halochromic Properties of 1,2,6-Tri- and 1,2,3,6-Tetra-aryl Azulenes

A series of novel 2,6-functionalized azulene molecules Azu1-3 with varied fluorene substituents at the 1- and 3-positions of azulene as well as at the 5'-position of 2-thiophene group were synthesized. Their electronic absorption and emission spectra at neutral and protonated states were examined. It was found that after functionalization with fluorenyl groups, Azu1-3 exhibited absorption maxima at 445, 451 to 468 nm, respectively. In contrast, their corresponding protonated species showed much redshifted absorption maxima at 560, 582 to 643 nm, respectively, mainly due to the extension of conjugation length and the large dipole moment along the C_2v axis of 2,6-substituted azulene molecules. Azu1-3 are non-fluorescent in their neutral forms, but became emissive in their protonated states. Analysis of absorption and emission spectra shows that substitution of the 1- or 3-position of azulene led to decrease in response to trifluoroacetic acid.

Azulene in Polymers and Their Properties

Azulene, a unique isomer of naphthalene, has received much interest from researchers in different fields due to its unusual chemical structure with a negatively charged 5-membered ring fused with a positively charged 7-membered ring. In particular, incorporation of azulene into polymers has led to many interesting properties. This minireview covers functionalization methods of azulene at its various positions of 5- and 7-membered rings to form azulene derivatives including azulene monomers, and gives an overview of a wide range of azulene-containing polymers including poly(1,3-azulene), azulene-based copolymers with connectivity at 1,3-positions of the 5-membered ring, or 4,7-positions of the 7-membered ring, as well as copolymers with azulene units as side chains. Their chemical and physical properties together with applications of azulene-containing polymers have also been summarized.

Regiospecific protonation of organic chromophores

Highly conductive, acid doped polymers such as PEDOT/PSS and polyaniline (PANI) have attracted much attention due to their potential applications in flexible electronics. However, the understanding of the mechanism behind the doping process is still lacking. In this paper, we conduct a systematic and detailed investigation on the acid doping behaviors of four model compounds which were synthesized by combining different protonatable units such as pyridal[2,1,3]thiadiazole (PT), benzo[2,1,3]thiadiazole (BT), cyclopentadithiophene (CPDT), and azulene. DFT simulation and UV-vis-NIR spectral studies show that while the site of first protonation was mainly determined by proton affinity, the subsequent site of protonation and doping density were determined by the nature of the first protonation and influenced by the following two factors: (1) electrostatic charge repulsion and (2) the possible delocalization of protonated charge in the conjugated structure. If the first protonation occurs at heteroatoms and results in a coplanar structure, the subsequent sites of protonation are mainly determined by the distance from the positive charge center to lower the effect of static repulsion and charge delocalization. On the other hand, if the first protonation occurs on the main chain carbon atoms which induce a large torsional angle (non-coplanar) as the carbon hybridization changes from sp(2) to sp(3), the conformation and the possible charge delocalization in the protonated molecules will play an important role in determining the subsequent protonation. Our study provides new insight into the acid-doping mechanism of conductive polymers, which could be used as a guide to design new acid doped highly conductive polymers.

Pyrazino[2,3-g]quinoxaline-2,7-dione based π-conjugated polymers with affinity towards acids and semiconductor performance in organic thin film transistors

Pyrazino[2,3-g]quinoxaline-2,7-dione (PQx) is used as a building block for π-conjugated polymer semiconductors that demonstrate a strong acid affinity and ambipolar semiconductor performance in thin film transistors.

A new aspect of cyclopentadithiophene based polymers: narrow band gap polymers upon protonation

A new aspect of CPDT based conjugated polymers that CPDT units in the polymers can be protonated with a significant change in optical and electronic properties was reported.

Protonation induced shifting of electron-accepting centers in intramolecular charge transfer chromophores: a theoretical study

A new series of chameleonic molecules containing azulene and benzothiadiazole (BT) were designed and synthesized.

Azulene-based conjugated polymers with tuneable near-IR absorption up to 2.5 μm

A series of novel azulene-containing conjugated polymers with tuneable absorption that covers nearly the full near-IR spectrum, ranging from 1.0 to 2.5 μm, were designed and synthesized.