Crystallization and Organic Field-Effect Transistor Performance of a Hydrogen-Bonded Quaterthiophene.

Crystalline thin films of π-conjugated molecules are relevant as the active layers in organic electronic devices. Therefore, materials with enhanced control over the supramolecular arrangement, crystallinity, and thin-film morphology are desirable. Herein, it is reported that hydrogen-bonded substituents serve as additional structure-directing elements that positively affect crystallization, thin-film morphology, and device performance of p-type organic semiconductors. It is observed that a quaterthiophene diacetamide exhibits a denser packing than that of other quaterthiophenes in the single-crystal structure and, as a result, displays enhanced intermolecular electronic interactions. This feature was preserved in crystalline thin films that exhibited a layer-by-layer morphology, with large domain sizes and high internal order. As a result, organic field-effect transistors of these polycrystalline thin films showed mobilities in the range of the best mobility values reported for single-crystalline quaterthiophenes. The use of hydrogen-bonded groups may, thus, provide an avenue for organic semiconducting materials with improved morphology and performance.

Solubility and crystallizability: facile access to functionalized π-conjugated compounds with chlorendylimide protecting groups.

Functional π-conjugated molecules are relevant for the preparation of new organic electronic materials with improved performance. However, their synthesis is often rendered difficult by their inherently low solubility, and the permanent attachment of solubilizing groups may change the properties of the material. Here, we introduced the chlorendylimidyl moiety as a new temporary protecting group for the straightforward large-scale synthesis of protected quarter-, sexi-, octathiophene, and perylene bisimide diamine and dicarboxylic acid derivatives. The obtained chlorendylimides and chlorendylimidyl active esters were highly soluble in organic solvents, and optical spectroscopy confirmed the low tendency of the compounds to aggregate in solution. At the same time, they could be conveniently purified by recrystallization or precipitation. Single-crystal X-ray structures obtained for most compounds showed supramolecular motifs highlighting the role of the rigid, polychlorinated chlorendyl moieties in their crystallization. The obtained protected diamine and dicarboxylic acid derivatives were easily deprotected and converted into various amide-substituted oligothiophenes and perylene bisimides that are of interest as new functional materials for organic electronic thin film or nanowire devices.

Coordination-driven self-assembly of PEO-functionalized perylene bisimides: supramolecular diversity from a limited set of molecular building blocks.

A limited number of poly(ethylene oxide)-substituted perylene bisimides, some of which are equipped with terpyridine ligands for transition-metal coordination (see structure), combine different types of noncovalent interactions to yield optoelectronically active organic materials with different types of supramolecular morphologies.