Facile Incorporation of Pd(PPh3)2Hal Substituents into Polymethines, Merocyanines, and Perylene Diimides as a Means of Suppressing Intermolecular Interactions.

Compounds with polarizable π systems that are susceptible to attack with nucleophiles at C-Hal (Hal = Cl, Br) bonds react with Pd(PPh3)4 to yield net oxidative addition. X-ray structures show that the resulting Pd(PPh3)2Hal groups greatly reduce intermolecular π-π interactions. The Pd-functionalized dyes generally exhibit solution-like absorption spectra in films, whereas their Hal analogues exhibit features attributable to aggregation.

C-H-Activated Direct Arylation of Strong Benzothiadiazole and Quinoxaline-Based Electron Acceptors.

Electron acceptors are important components of π-conjugated materials, but the strong electron-withdrawing properties of the required synthetic intermediates often make them poor substrates in synthetic schemes designed around conventional organometallic cross-coupling. Here, strong benzodiimine-based acceptors, including 5,6-difluoro[2,1,3]benzothiadiazole, 5,6-dicyano[2,1,3]benzothiadiazole, 5,6-dicyanobenzo[d][1,2,3]triazole, 6,7-dicyanoquinoxaline, and 6,7-dinitroquinoxaline, are shown to undergo facile palladium-catalyzed C-H direct arylation with a variety of bromoarenes in moderate to high yields. The electrochemical characteristics of di-2-thienyl derivatives synthesized using this methodology are compared and suggest that, in an electron-transfer sense, 5,6-dicyano[2,1,3]benzothiadiazole is a comparably strong acceptor to benzo[1,2-c:4,5-c']bis[1,2,5]thiadiazole. The synthetic results suggest that high electron-withdrawing ability, which has traditionally limited reaction yields and structural variety in organic electronic materials, may be advantageous when employing C-H activated direct arylation in certain circumstances.

n-Dopants Based on Dimers of Benzimidazoline Radicals: Structures and Mechanism of Redox Reactions.

Dimers of 2-substituted N,N'-dimethylbenzimidazoline radicals, (2-Y-DMBI)2 (Y=cyclohexyl (Cyc), ferrocenyl (Fc), ruthenocenyl (Rc)), have recently been reported as n-dopants for organic semiconductors. Here their structural and energetic characteristics are reported, along with the mechanisms by which they react with acceptors, A (PCBM, TIPS-pentacene), in solution. X-ray data and DFT calculations both indicate a longer C-C bond for (2-Cyc-DMBI)2 than (2-Fc-DMBI)2 , yet DFT and ESR data show that the latter dissociates more readily due to stabilization of the radical by Fc. Depending on the energetics of dimer (D2 ) dissociation and of D2 -to-A electron transfer, D2 reacts with A to form D(+) and A(-) by either of two mechanisms, differing in whether the first step is endergonic dissociation or endergonic electron transfer. However, the D(+) /0.5 D2 redox potentials-the effective reducing strengths of the dimers-vary little within the series (ca. -1.9 V vs. FeCp2 (+/0) ) (Cp=cyclopentadienyl) due to cancelation of trends in the D(+/0) potential and D2 dissociation energy. The implications of these findings for use of these dimers as n-dopants, and for future dopant design, are discussed.

Controllable direct arylation: fast route to symmetrical and unsymmetrical 4,7-diaryl-5,6-difluoro-2,1,3-benzothiadiazole derivatives for organic optoelectronic materials.

Arylation in the 4- and 7-positions of 2,1,3-benzothiadiazole (BT) and its monofluoro- (MFBT) and difluoro- (DFBT) derivatives by (hetero)aryl bromides using Pd-catalyzed C­H activation has been investigated. MFBT and DFBT can be diarylated in moderate to high yields (up to 96% for DFBT) by a variety of aryl bromides. DFBT can be sequentially arylated using two different aryl bromides to give differentially substituted DFBT derivatives. The moderate to high yields of doubly arylated MFBT and DFBT and the ability to obtain differentially substituted products can be applied to a variety of organic photonic and electronic materials.

Two-photon sensitized visible and near-IR luminescence of lanthanide complexes using a fluorene-based donor-π-acceptor diketonate.

A fluorene-based donor-acceptor ligand was successfully employed to sensitize visible and near-IR emitting lanthanide centers. The ligand construct is based on a donor-π-acceptor architecture with diphenylamino acting as the donor and a fluorenyl π bridge derivatized with a trifluoroacetonate moiety acting as both a strong acceptor and the classic bidentate scaffold for complexing metals. (1)H NMR analysis in the polar solvents THF and CDCl3 revealed the enolic form of the diketone dominant in solution equilibria at room temperature. This preferred cis-enol form binds strongly to the lanthanide(III) ions (Ln = Eu, Sm, Dy, Tb, Yb, Nd, Er, and Gd) in the presence of phenanthroline affording the resulting ternary tris(diketonates) complexes with 1,10-phenanthroline. Detailed characterization of these complexes was conducted, with particular emphasis on linear and nonlinear photophysical properties. Steady-state and time-resolved emission spectroscopy and overall photoluminescence quantum yield (PLQY) measurements were performed on all the complexes. Sizeable visible and near-IR efficiency for europium (room temperature, visible), samarium (low temperature, visible) and ytterbium, neodymium and erbium (room temperature, near-IR) was displayed, with long luminescent lifetimes for the europium and samarium complexes of 85 and 70 µs, respectively Measurement of the luminescence decay for the Yb complex at 976 nm, Nd complex at 874 nm, and Er complex at 1335 nm yielded mono-exponential decay curves, with lifetimes of ~13 µs, ~1.6 µs, and ~2.5 µs, respectively, inferring that the emission was generated by a single species. In addition, fluorescence anisotropy and two-photon absorption (2PA) spectra (via Z-scan) were obtained for the ligand and europium complex, revealing a maximum 2PA cross section of 340 GM for the latter upon excitation at 760 nm. A quadratic relationship was found by varying laser excitation power vs. luminescence intensity of the europium complex, confirming sensitization via two-photon excitation.