Golden Age of Fluorenylidene Phosphaalkenes-Synthesis, Structures, and Optical Properties of Heteroaromatic Derivatives and Their Gold Complexes.

The substitution of 2,7-dibromo-9-fluorenyl phosphaalkenes with heteroaromatic substituents (bithiophene, benzothiophene, pyridine) offers access to interesting push-pull dye molecules. Steric shielding due to the bulky P-substituent gives marked different reactivities at the 2- and 7-positions, allowing the synthesis of mixed/asymmetric derivatives. Further functionalization via gold(I) coordination was demonstrated and increased the acceptor character, concomitant with a red-shifted absorption.

An Air-Stable Semiconducting Polymer Containing Dithieno[3,2-b:2',3'-d]arsole.

Arsole-containing conjugated polymers are a practically unexplored class of materials despite the high interest in their phosphole analogues. Herein we report the synthesis of the first dithieno[3,2-b;2',3'-d]arsole derivative, and demonstrate that it is stable to ambient oxidation in its +3 oxidation state. A soluble copolymer is obtained by a palladium-catalyzed Stille polymerization and demonstrated to be a p-type semiconductor with promising hole mobility, which was evaluated by field-effect transistor measurements.

Heavier pnictogens - treasures for optical electronic and reactivity tuning.

We highlight recent advances in organopnictogen chemistry contrasting the properties of lighter and heavier pnictogens. Exploring new bonding situations, discovering unprecedented reactivities and producing fascinating opto-electronic materials are some of the most prominent directions of current organopnicogen research. Expanding the chemical toolbox towards the heavier group 15 elements will continue to create new opportunities to tailor molecular properties for small molecule activation/reactivity and materials applications alike. This frontier article illustrates the elemental substitution approach in selected literature examples.

Dithieno[3,2-b:2',3'-d]arsole-containing conjugated polymers in organic photovoltaic devices.

Arsole-derived conjugated polymers are a relatively new class of materials in the field of organic electronics. Herein, we report the synthesis of two new donor polymers containing fused dithieno[3,2-b:2',3'-d]arsole units and report their application in bulk heterojunction solar cells for the first time. Devices based upon blends with PC71BM display high open circuit voltages around 0.9 V and demonstrate power conversion efficiencies around 4%.

Vinylene-Linked Oligothiophene-Difluorobenzothiadiazole Copolymer for Transistor Applications.

The synthesis of the novel donor-acceptor monomer 4,7-bis[(E)-2-(5-bromo-3-dodecylylthiophen-2-yl)ethenyl]-5,6-difluoro-2,1,3-benzothiadiazole (FBT-V2T2) is reported. Polymerization with 4,4'-ditetradecyl-5,5'-bistrimethylstannyl-2,2'-bithiophene afforded a highly crystalline polymer that aggregated strongly in solution. Polymer films were well ordered resulting in high performance field-effect transistors with low onset voltages, negligible hysteresis, high channel current on/off ratios, and peak hole mobilities of up to 0.5 cm2 V-1 s-1. Notably the transistors exhibited close to ideal behavior with extracted mobilities almost independent of gate of voltage.