Serena Arnaboldi

Inherently Chiral Macrocyclic Oligothiophenes: Easily Accessible Electrosensitive Cavities with Outstanding Enantioselection Performances

Linear conjugated oligothiophenes of variable length and different substitution pattern are ubiquitous in technologically advanced optoelectronic devices, though limitations in application derive from insolubility, scarce processability and chain-end effects. This study describes an easy access to chiral cyclic oligothiophenes constituted by 12 and 18 fully conjugated thiophene units. Chemical oxidation of an “inherently chiral” sexithiophene monomer, synthesized in two steps from commercially available materials, induces the formation of an elliptical dimer and a triangular trimer endowed with electrosensitive cavities of different tunable sizes. Combination of chirality with electroactivity makes these molecules unique in the current oligothiophenes literature. These macrocycles, which are stable and soluble in most organic solvents, show outstanding chiroptical properties, high circularly polarized luminescence effects and an exceptional enantiorecognition ability.

A family of solution-processable macrocyclic and open-chain oligothiophenes with atropoisomeric scaffolds: structural and electronic features for potential energy applications

FeCl3 oxidation of the racemate of C2 symmetric, inherently chiral, sexithiophene monomer 1 (2,2′-bis(2,2′-bithiophene-5-yl)-3,3′-bithianaphthene) affords a mixture of cyclic oligomers, from the prevailing dimer to traces of the pentamer. The oligomers are constituted by mixtures of stereoisomers which are two for dimer 2, four for trimer 3 and six for tetramer 4. Cyclooligomers 2 and 3 could be separated by chromatography, while 4 was synthesized by ring closure of open chain dimer 2a, prepared in turn by controlled coupling of the anion of racemic 1. The optical properties of open-chain stereoisomer 2a and tetramer 4 have been compared with those of 2 and 3 respectively. The macrocyclic oligomers have been tested as donor materials in bulk heterojunction solar cell prototypes both as a crude mixture resulting from oxidation of 1 and as a single oligomer. Theoretical calculations support the photophysical properties of these new materials.

Erratum to: “Inherently chiral” thiophene-based electrodes at work: a screening of enantioselection ability toward a series of pharmaceutically relevant phenolic or catecholic amino acids, amino esters, and amine

“Inherently chiral” thiophene-based electroactive oligomer films have recently been shown to exhibit outstanding chirality manifestations. One of the most exciting among them is an unprecedented enantioselection ability as electrode surfaces. In fact, in preliminary chiral voltammetry experiments, the new electrodes have been shown to both discriminate the enantiomers of chiral probes (either enantiopure or in a mixture, in terms of large differences in peak potentials) and quantify them (in terms of linear dynamic ranges in peak currents), without the need for preliminary separation steps. Such ability has now been tested on a series of chiral DOPA-related molecules, from phenolic amino acid tyrosine (together with its methyl ester) to catecholic amino acid DOPA (together with its methyl ester), to catecholamine epinephrine (adrenaline). The wide-range enantioselectivity of the new inherently chiral electrode surfaces is fully confirmed, as large peak potential differences are obtained for probe enantiomers of the whole series working in common aqueous buffers. Moreover, interesting modulating effects on enantiodiscrimination can be observed as a function of both molecular structure and pH.