Synthesis and Charge-Carrier Transport Properties of Poly(phosphole P-alkanesulfonylimide)s

Efficient and Sustainable Electrosynthesis of N-Sulfonyl Iminophosphoranes by the Dehydrogenative P-N Coupling Reaction

Iminophosphoranes are commonly used reagents in organic synthesis and are, therefore, of great interest. An efficient and sustainable iodide-mediated electrochemical synthesis of N-sulfonyl iminophosphoranes from readily available phosphines and sulfonamides is reported. This method features low amounts of supporting electrolytes, inexpensive electrode materials, a simple galvanostatic setup, and high conversion rates. The broad applicability could be demonstrated by synthesizing 20 examples in yields up to 90%, having diverse functional groups including chiral moieties and biologically relevant species. Furthermore, electrolysis was performed on a 20 g scale and could be run in repetitive mode by recycling the electrolyte, which illustrates the suitability for large-scale production. A reaction mechanism involving electrochemical mediation by the iodide-based supporting electrolyte is proposed, completely agreeing with all of the results.

Facile modification of phosphole-based aggregation-induced emission luminogens with sulfonyl isocyanates

Phosphole oxides undergo a highly chemoselective reaction with sulfonyl isocyanates forming sulfonylimino phospholes in high yields. This facile modification proved to be a powerful tool for obtaining new phosphole-based aggregation-induced emission (AIE) luminogens with high fluorescence quantum yields in the solid state. Changing the chemical environment of the phosphorus atom of the phosphole framework results in a significant shift of the fluorescence maximum to longer wavelengths.

Novel Lipid-Oligonucleotide Conjugates Containing Long-Chain Sulfonyl Phosphoramidate Groups: Synthesis and Biological Properties

New lipid conjugates of DNA and RNA incorporating one to four [(4-dodecylphenyl)sulfonyl]phosphoramidate or (hexadecylsulfonyl)phosphoramidate groups at internucleotidic positions near the 3′ or 5′-end were synthesized and characterized. Low cytotoxicity of the conjugates and their ability to be taken up into cells without transfection agents were demonstrated. Lipid-conjugated siRNAs targeting repulsive guidance molecules a (RGMa) have shown a comparable gene silencing activity in PK-59 cells to unmodified control siRNA when delivered into the cells via Lipofectamine mediated transfection.

Formal Transition-Metal-Catalyzed Phosphole C-H Activation for the Synthesis of Pentasubstituted Phospholes

Unprecedented formal transition-metal-catalyzed phosphole C-H functionalization is described in this paper. Pentasubstituted phospholes were prepared via the copper-catalyzed reaction of 1,3,4-trisubstituted phosphole with aryl iodides or bromides under distinct conditions. The developed methodology is able to accommodate a wide variety of substituents, including aryl, heteroaryl, and alkenyl.

Mass spectrometric characterization of oligomeric phosphaalkenes

Oligomeric phosphaalkenes are readily characterized using electrospray ionization mass spectrometry (ESI-MS). The high affinity of phosphines for silver ions permits the detection of the unadulterated polymer as [M + xAg]x+ions (x = 2–3). When the oligomers are oxidized using H2O2, the resulting phosphine oxide polymer may be treated with sodium ions to produce [M + xNa]x+ions (x = 2–3). Both methods predict a similar distribution of oligomers: Mnvalues of 3450 ± 100 Da and a PDI of 1.09 ± 0.01 cover both analyses. This distribution represents oligomers of the general formula Me(PMesCPh2)nH from n = 4–20, maximizing at ∼n = 10.

Effects of counter anions, P-substituents, and solvents on optical and photophysical properties of 2-phenylbenzo[b]phospholium salts

The effects of counter anions, P-substituents, and solvents on the optical and photophysical properties of 2-phenylbenzo[b]phospholium salts were studied.

Fusing Porphyrins and Phospholes: Synthesis and Analysis of a Phosphorus-Containing Porphyrin

A phosphole-fused porphyrin dimer, as a representative of a new class of porphyrins with a phosphorus atom, was synthesized for the first time. The porphyrin dimer exhibits remarkably broadened absorption, indicating effective π-conjugation over the two porphyrins through the phosphole moiety. The porphyrin dimer possesses excellent electron-accepting character, which is comparable to that of a representative electron-accepting material, [60]PCBM. These results provide access to a new class of phosphorus-containing porphyrins with unique optoelectronic properties.

Thieno[3,4-c]phosphole-4,6-dione: A Versatile Building Block for Phosphorus-Containing Functional π-Conjugated Systems

A versatile phosphorus-containing π-conjugated building block, thieno[3,4-c]phosphole-4,6-dione (TPHODO), has been developed. The utility of this simple but hitherto unknown building block has been demonstrated by preparing novel functional organophosphorus compounds and bandgap-tunable conjugated polymers.

π-Conjugated phospholes and their incorporation into devices: components with a great deal of potential

This review serves as a brief introduction to phospholes and discusses their unique favorable properties for application in organic electronic materials. Over the past several years, π-conjugated phospholes have been slowly making their way into devices. We report here the mode of synthesis of these π-conjugated phospholes as well as discuss the performances of the devices.

A structure-property study toward π-extended phosphole chromophores with ambipolar redox properties

We report the synthesis of a series of π-extended dithienophospholes with phenyl or biphenyl terminal groups via Suzuki Miyaura cross-coupling procedures. The incorporation of the dithienophosphole core into the scaffold on oligophenylenes was found to lead to pronounced luminescence properties in solution and the solid state, the latter of which also responded to different solid-state morphologies, i.e., powder versus crystal. More importantly, the investigated molecular architectures also allowed — for the first time — the observation of ambipolar redox behavior of such species, with the biphenyl-extended species in particular showing quasi-reversible reduction and oxidation processes; the observed experimental features were correlated with computational density functional theory studies.

Stimuli-responsive chromism in organophosphorus chemistry

The last five years have seen a huge advance in organophosphorus chemistry with respect to compounds with strong chromic responses to external stimuli. This Frontier article briefly summarizes these trends in order to especially highlight the broad versatility of phosphole-based scaffolds in chromic materials.

Polymers and the p-block elements

A survey of the state-of-the-art in the development of synthetic methods to incorporate p-block elements into polymers is given. The incorporation of main group elements (groups 13-16) into long chains provides access to materials with fascinating chemical and physical properties imparted by the presence of inorganic groups. Perhaps the greatest impedance to the widespread academic and commercial use of p-block element-containing macromolecules is the synthetic challenge associated with linking inorganic elements into long chains. In recent years, creative methodologies have been developed to incorporate heteroatoms into polymeric structures, with perhaps the greatest advances occurring with hybrid organic-inorganic polymers composed of boron, silicon, phosphorus and sulfur. With these developments, materials are currently being realized that possess exciting chemical, photophysical and thermal properties that are not possible for conventional organic polymers. This review focuses on highlighting the most significant recent advances whilst giving an appropriate background for the general reader. Of particular focus will be advances made over the last two decades, with emphasis on the novel synthetic methodologies employed.

A Convenient N-Arylation Route for Electron-Deficient Pyridines: The Case of π-Extended Electrochromic Phosphaviologens

A simple and representative procedure for the synthesis of N,N'-diarylated phosphaviologens directly from both electron-rich and electron-poor diaryliodonium salts and 2,7-diazadibenzophosphole oxide is reported. The latter are electron-deficient congeners of the widely utilized N,N'-disubstituted 4,4'-bipyridinium cations, also known as viologens, that proved to be inaccessible by the classical two-step route. The single-step preparation method for phosphaviologens described herein could be extended to genuine viologens but reached its limit when sterically demanding diaryliodonium salts were used. The studied phosphaviologens feature a significantly lowered reduction threshold as compared to all other (phospha)viologens known to date due to the combination of an extended π-system with an electron deficient phosphole core. In addition, a considerably smaller HOMO-LUMO gap was observed due to efficient π-delocalization across the phosphaviologen core, as well as the N-aryl substituents, which was corroborated by quantum chemical calculations. Detailed characterizations of the singly reduced radical species by EPR spectroscopy and DFT calculations verified delocalization of the radical over the extended π-system. Finally, to gain deeper insight into the suitability of the new compounds as electroactive and electrochromic materials, multicolored proof-of-concept electrochomic devices were manufactured.

Insights on the design and electron-acceptor properties of conjugated organophosphorus materials

The development of conjugated organic materials has become a rapidly evolving field of research, particularly with a view toward practical applications in so-called organic electronics that encompass a variety of device types, such as OLEDs, OPVs, and OFETs. Almost all of these devices minimally require the presence of electron-donor and -acceptor components that act as p- and n-type semiconductors, respectively. Research over the past two decades has shown that while there is an abundant resource of organic p-type materials, suitable n-type species are few and far between. To overcome this severe bottleneck for the further development of organic electronics, researchers have identified organo-main-group avenues as valuable alternatives toward organic electron-acceptor materials that may ultimately be used as n-type components in practical devices. One particular element of interest in this context is phosphorus, which at first glance may not necessarily suggest such properties. In this Account, I provide detailed insights on the origin of the electron-acceptor properties of organophosphorus-based conjugated materials and include an overview of important molecular species that have been developed by my group and others. To this end, I explain that the electron-acceptor properties of conjugated organophosphorus materials originate from an interaction known as negative hyperconjugation. While this particular interaction creates a simply inductively withdrawing phosphoryl substituent for π-conjugated scaffolds, incorporation of a phosphorus atom as an integral part of a cyclic substructure within a π-conjugated system provides a much more complex, versatile, and consequently highly valuable tool for the tuning of the electron-acceptor properties of the materials. Notably, the degree of negative hyperconjugation can effectively be tailored in various ways via simple substitution at the phosphorus center. This is now well established for phosphole-based molecular materials, in which the electron-acceptor properties are also mirrored by the degree of antiaromaticity of the system. Particularly, fused and π-extended phosphole materials show appreciable electron-acceptor properties, evident in low reduction potentials and corresponding LUMO levels. But these features do not always translate into powerful n-type materials. My group and others have thus recently been focusing on molecular organophosphorus scaffolds that also involve incorporation of imino or carbonyl groups, next to the incorporation of low coordinate phosphorus centers, to achieve superior electron-acceptor features. This state-of-the-art research has confirmed the great potential of the organophosphorus route toward powerful electron-acceptor materials, but further work is required to also establish these species as functional n-type materials.

Efficient synthesis of π-extended phenazasilines for optical and electronic applications

The rhodium-catalyzed synthesis of phenazasilines from readily achievable biarylhydrosilanes is presented. This highly efficient method offers opportunities for preparing π-extended phenazasilines with enhanced optoelectronic properties for device applications in organic electronics.