Juan Casado

Kinetically Blocked Stable Heptazethrene and Octazethrene: Closed-Shell or Open-Shell in the Ground State?

Polycyclic aromatic hydrocarbons with an open-shell singlet biradical ground state are of fundamental interest and have potential applications in materials science. However, the inherent high reactivity makes their synthesis and characterization very challenging. In this work, a convenient synthetic route was developed to synthesize two kinetically blocked heptazethrene (HZ-TIPS) and octazethrene (OZ-TIPS) compounds with good stability. Their ground-state electronic structures were systematically investigated by a combination of different experimental methods, including steady-state and transient absorption spectroscopy, variable temperature NMR, electron spin resonance (ESR), superconducting quantum interfering device (SQUID), FT Raman, and X-ray crystallographic analysis, assisted by unrestricted symmetry-broken density functional theory (DFT) calculations. All these demonstrated that the heptazethrene derivative HZ-TIPS has a closed-shell ground state while its octazethrene analogue OZ-TIPS with a smaller energy gap exists as an open-shell singlet biradical with a large measured biradical character (y = 0.56). Large two-photon absorption (TPA) cross sections (σ((2))) were determined for HZ-TIPS (σ((2))(max) = 920 GM at 1250 nm) and OZ-TIPS (σ((2))(max) = 1200 GM at 1250 nm). In addition, HZ-TIPS and OZ-TIPS show a closely stacked 1D polymer chain in single crystals.

Impact of Perfluorination on the Charge-Transport Parameters of Oligoacene Crystals

The charge-transport parameters of the perfluoropentacene and perfluorotetracene crystals are studied with a joint experimental and theoretical approach that combines gas-phase ultraviolet photoelectron spectroscopy and density functional theory. To gain a better understanding of the role of perfluorination, the results for perfluoropentacene and perfluorotetracene are compared to those for their parent oligoacenes, that is, pentacene and tetracene. Perfluorination is calculated to increase the ionization potentials and electron affinities by approximately 1 eV, which is expected to reduce significantly the injection barrier for electrons in organic electronics devices. Perfluorination also leads to significant changes in the crystalline packing, which greatly affects the electronic properties of the crystals and their charge-transport characteristics. The calculations predict large conduction and valence bandwidths and low hole and electron effective masses in the perfluoroacene crystals, with the largest mobilities expected along the pi-stacks. Perfluorination impacts as well both local and nonlocal vibrational couplings, whose strengths increase by a factor of about 2 with respect to the parent compounds.

Stable Tetrabenzo-Chichibabin’s Hydrocarbons: Tunable Ground State and Unusual Transition between Their Closed-Shell and Open-Shell Resonance Forms

Stable open-shell polycyclic aromatic hydrocarbons (PAHs) are of fundamental interest due to their unique electronic, optical, and magnetic properties and promising applications in materials sciences. Chichibabins hydrocarbon as a classical open-shell PAH has been investigated for a long time. However, most of the studies are complicated by their inherent high reactivity. In this work, two new stable benzannulated Chichibabins hydrocarbons 1-CS and 2-OS were prepared, and their electronic structure and geometry in the ground state were studied by various experiments (steady-state and transient absorption spectra, NMR, electron spin resonance (ESR), superconducting quantum interference device (SQUID), FT Raman, X-ray crystallographic etc.) and density function theory (DFT) calculations. 1-CS and 2-OS exhibited tunable ground states, with a closed-shell quinoidal structure for 1-CS and an open-shell biradical form for 2-OS. Their corresponding excited-state forms 1-OS and 2-CS were also chemically approached and showed different decay processes. The biradical 1-OS displayed an unusually slow decay to the ground state (1-CS) due to a large energy barrier (95 ± 2.5 kJ/mol) arising from severe steric hindrance during the transition from an orthogonal biradical form to a butterfly-like quinoidal form. The quick transition from the quinoidal 2-CS (excited state) to the orthogonal biradicaloid 2-OS (ground state) happened during the attempted synthesis of 2-CS. Compounds 1-CS and 2-OS can be oxidized into stable dications by FeCl(3) and/or concentrated H(2)SO(4). The open-shell 2-OS also exhibited a large two-photon absorption (TPA) cross section (760 GM at 1200 nm).

Pushing extended p-quinodimethanes to the limit: Stable tetracyano-oligo(N-annulated perylene)quinodimethanes with tunable ground states

p-Quinodimethane (p-QDM) is a fundamental building block for the design of π-conjugated systems with low band gap and open-shell biradical character. However, synthesis of extended p-QDMs has usually suffered from their intrinsic high reactivity and poor solubility. In this work, benzannulation together with terminal cyano-substitution was demonstrated to be an efficient approach for the synthesis of a series of soluble and stable tetracyano-oligo(N-annulated perylene)quinodimethanes nPer-CN (n = 1-6), with the longest molecule having 12 para-linked benzenoid rings! The geometry and electronic structures of these oligomers were investigated by steady-state and transient absorption spectroscopy, nuclear magnetic resonance, electron spin resonance, superconducting quantum interference device, and FT Raman spectroscopy assisted by density functional theory calculations. They showed tunable ground states, varying from a closed-shell quinoidal structure for monomer, to a singlet biradical for dimer, trimer, and tetramer, and to a triplet biradical for pentamer and hexamer. Large two-photon absorption cross-section values were observed in the near-infrared range, which also exhibited a clear chain-length dependence.

Efficient π electrons delocalization in α,α′‐dimethyl end‐capped oligothiophenes: A vibrational spectroscopic study

α,α′‐dimethyl substituted oligothiophenes with increasing chain length (from the dimer up to the hexamer) were recently synthesized by chemical methods. In this paper we have investigated the vibrational Fourier transform‐IR and Fourier transform‐Raman spectra of solid α,α′‐dimethyl substituted oligothiophenes in the neutral state. The data are consistent with the existence of a chain‐length dependent π electron delocalization: a large frequency dispersion with conjugation length is observed for some Raman and infrared active vibrational modes, particularly at the high‐energy side of the aromatic C=C stretching region. Vibrational assignments are proposed for the main vibrational features in the whole spectral range. This vibrational spectroscopic analysis of the solid samples thus becomes a tool for deriving information on the structure of these neutral materials in solution and in the doped state.

Microwave-assisted sidewall functionalization of single-wall carbon nanotubes by Diels–Alder cycloaddition

The first Diels-Alder cycloaddition of o-quinodimethane to SWNT has been performed under microwave irradiation.

Tuning the Supramolecular Chirality of One- and Two-Dimensional Aggregates with the Number of Stereogenic Centers in the Component Porphyrins

A synthetic strategy was developed for the preparation of porphyrins containing between one and four stereogenic centers, such that their molecular weights vary only as a result of methyl groups which give the chiral forms. The low-dimensional nanoscale aggregates of these compounds reveal the profound effects of this varying molecular chirality on their supramolecular structure and optical activity. The number of stereogenic centers influences significantly the self-assembly and chiral structure of the aggregates of porphyrin molecules described here. A scanning tunneling microscopy study of monolayers on graphite shows that the degree of structural chirality with respect to the surface increases almost linearly with the number of stereogenic centers, and only one handedness is formed in the monolayers, whereas the achiral compound forms a mixture of mirror-image domains at the surface. In solution, four hydrogen bonds induce the formation of an H-aggregate, and circular dichroism measurements and theoretical studies indicate that the compounds self-assemble into helical structures. Both the chirality and stability of the aggregates depend critically on the number of stereocenters. The chiral porphyrin derivatives gelate methylcyclohexane at concentrations dependent on the number and position of chiral groups at the periphery of the aromatic core, reflecting the different aggregation forces of the molecules in solution. Increasing the number of stereogenic centers requires more material to immobilize the solvent, in all likelihood because of the greater solubility of the porphyrins. The vibrational circular dichroism spectra of the gels show that all compounds have a chiral environment around the amide bonds, confirming the helical model proposed by calculations. The morphologies of the xerogels (studied by scanning electron microscopy and scanning force microscopy) are similar, although more fibrous features are present in the molecules with fewer stereogenic centers. Importantly, the presence of only one stereogenic center, bearing a methyl group as the desymmetrizing ligand, in a molecule of considerable molecular weight is enough to induce single-handed chirality in both the one- and two-dimensional supramolecular self-assembled structures.

Diindeno-fusion of an anthracene as a design strategy for stable organic biradicals

The consequence of unpaired electrons in organic molecules has fascinated and confounded chemists for over a century. The study of open-shell molecules has been rekindled in recent years as new synthetic methods, improved spectroscopic techniques and powerful computational tools have been brought to bear on this field. Nonetheless, it is the intrinsic instability of the biradical species that limits the practicality of this research. Here we report the synthesis and characterization of a molecule based on the diindeno[b,i]anthracene framework that exhibits pronounced open-shell character yet possesses remarkable stability. The synthetic route is rapid, efficient and possible on the gram scale. The molecular structure was confirmed through single-crystal X-ray diffraction. From variable-temperature Raman spectroscopy and magnetic susceptibility measurements a thermally accessible triplet excited state was found. Organic field-effect transistor device data show an ambipolar performance with balanced electron and hole mobilities. Our results demonstrate the rational design and synthesis of an air- and temperature-stable biradical compound.

Tetracyanoquaterrylene and Tetracyanohexarylenequinodimethanes with Tunable Ground States and Strong Near‐Infrared Absorption

Biradicaloids based on quinoidal rylenes! Soluble and stable tetracyanoquaterrylenequinodimethane (QR-CN) and tetracyanohexarylenequinodimethane (HR-CN) were synthesized. QR-CN has a closed-shell quinoidal structure in the ground state, whereas HR-CN has a singlet biradical ground state. Both compounds showed very strong one-photon and two-photon absorption in the NIR range

Vibrational spectra of charged defects in a series of α,α′-dimethyl end-capped oligothiophenes induced by chemical doping with iodine

We present the results of a detailed study carried out on a few α,α′-dimethyl end-capped oligothiophenes which have been in situ doped with dry iodine vapors, at different concentrations. The doping process of these well sized oligomers (from dimer to hexamer) has been monitored by using Fourier transform infrared absorption and Fourier transform raman scattering spectroscopies. These data, when combined with the vibrational full assignment of the oligomers in the neutral state and the electronic absorption bands recorded for both neutral and doped compounds, provide a complete spectroscopic characterization of a full series of positive polaron-type model defects of doped polythiophene. We have also performed density functional theory quantum-chemical calculations in order to analyze the effects of ionization on the geometries and vibrational spectra of these systems.