The biradicaloid vs. quinoidal character of the ground state of thiophene-based heterophenoquinones bearing donor or acceptor groups is investigated. Keeping the conjugation length fixed, namely, the 5,5'-bis(3,5-di-tert-butyl-4-oxo-2,5-cyclohexadiene-1-ylidene)-2,2'-dihydroxy bithiophene backbone, an opposite effect occurs depending on the donating or withdrawing nature of the substituents. Th...

A histamine piezoelectric (acoustic) sensor using a molecularly imprinted polymer (MIP) film has been devised and tested. The sensor comprises an electrodeposited MIP film as the recognition element and a 10 MHz AT-cut shear-thickness-mode bulk-acoustic-wave quartz crystal resonator with Pt film electrodes as the signal transducer. Preparation of the sensing film involved two consecutive electr...

Poly(3-dodecyl-2,2’-bithiophene)(PDBT), Poly(3-dodecylthiophene)(PDT), and poly(3,4-dibutoxythiophene)(PDBOT) were chemically prepared and doped with copper(II) perchlorate. The conductivity, stability and spectral change of the doped polymers during storage in air were compared. The results suggest that copper(II) perchlorate is an effective oxidant. keywords: Coupling reactions, UV-Vis-NIR ab...

We describe a spectroelectrochemical approach to accelerated electrochemical stability studies of conjugated polymers under oxidative stress. The polaron stabilities of alternating copolymers based on (i) thiophene and thiazole, namely PTTz, and (ii) bithiophene and thiazole, namely PTTTz, are compared in neat films with that of P3HT. P3HT is found to be the most stable whilst PTTz is found to ...

A comparative study of two structural isomers highlights the advantages of bifuran vs. bithiophene units in conjugated systems, such as higher fluorescence, solubility, and increased stability of the oxidized species. Importantly, we have found that the small bifuran unit bestows the advantages found in longer oligofurans, and should be considered in the rational design of π-conjugated systems.

A route towards phenylene-bithiophene macrocycles via oxidative thiophene coupling under pseudo-high dilution conditions is reported. This method is applied to the synthesis of a shape-persistent thiophene macrocycle with extraannularly attached perylenebisimide moieties that forms supramolecular aggregates at the solid/liquid interface.

The structure and photophysical properties of a new triad (borane–bithiophene–BODIPY) 1 have been investigated. Triad 1 exhibits unprecedented tricolour emission when excited at the borane centred high energy absorption band and also acts as a selective fluorescent and colorimetric sensor for fluoride ions with ratiometric response. The experimental results are supported by computational studies.

A new evaporable electron acceptor material for organic photovoltaics based on N-ethyl barbituric acid bithiophene (EBB) has been demonstrated. Bilayer devices fabricated with this non-fullerene acceptor and boron subphthalocyanine chloride (SubPc) donor produce power conversion efficiencies as high as 2.6% with an extremely large open-circuit voltage approaching 1.4 V.