Advanced Functional Materials, Vol.22, No.7, 1489-1501, 2012
Sequence-Independent Synthesis of pi-conjugated Arylenevinylene Oligomers using Bifunctional Thiophene Monomers
Sequence-independent or click chemistry is applied for the preparation of a series of novel and structurally similar p-conjugated oligomers. The new oligomers are prepared using WittigHorner chemistry from bifunctional building blocks that can be interconnected to one another at any desired sequence. The bifunctional building blocks consist of aromatic skeletons with acetal protected aldehyde groups on one side and a phosphonic acid diethyl ester group para to the aldehyde functionality. The first step in the arylenevinylene formation is a WittigHorner coupling of a functionalized aldehyde with the methyl phosphonate ester ylide of a bifunctional monomer. A stepwise protectiondeprotection process is applied for the preparation of structurally similar p-conjugated oligo-phenylene vinylenes. New di-, tri-, penta-, and hepta-phenylenevinylenes are prepared and characterized. Selected penta-arylenevinylenes are incorporated as the semiconductor channel in organic field-effect transistors.
Keywords:conjugated oligomers;electro-optical materials;field-effect transistors;organic electronics