Non-fullerene electron acceptors based on hybridisation of corannulene and thiophene-S,S-dioxide motifs

• Main Authors: Báti, Gábor, Csókás, Dániel, Giurgi, Gavril-Ionel, Zhou, Jingsong, Szolga, Lorant A., Webster, Richard David, Stuparu, Mihaiela Corina
• Other Authors: School of Chemistry, Chemical Engineering and Biotechnology
• Format: Article
• Language: English
• Published: 2023
• Subjects: Science::Chemistry; Annulation; Arenes
• Online Access: https://hdl.handle.net/10356/168879
• Institution: Nanyang Technological University

Herein we show that hybridisation of buckybowl corannulene and thiophene-S,S-dioxide motifs is a general approach for the preparation of high electron affinity molecular materials. The devised synthesis is modular and relies on thienannulation of corannnulene-based phenylacetylene scaffolds. The final compounds are highly soluble in common organic solvents. These compounds also exhibit interesting optical properties such as absorption and emission in the blue/green regions of the electromagnetic spectrum. Importantly, a bis-S,S-dioxide derivative exhibits three reversible reductions similar in their strength to the prevalent fullerene-based electron acceptor phenyl-C61 -butyric acid methyl ester (PC61 BM).