Molecules (Feb 2022)

Synthesis and Investigation of Electro-Optical Properties of H-Shape Dibenzofulvene Derivatives

  • Maria Michela Giangregorio,
  • Salvatore Gambino,
  • Eduardo Fabiano,
  • Mauro Leoncini,
  • Antonio Cardone,
  • Giuseppina Anna Corrente,
  • Amerigo Beneduci,
  • Gianluca Accorsi,
  • Giuseppe Gigli,
  • Maria Losurdo,
  • Roberto Termine,
  • Agostina-Lina Capodilupo

DOI
https://doi.org/10.3390/molecules27031091
Journal volume & issue
Vol. 27, no. 3
p. 1091

Abstract

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We have synthetized two classes of dibenzofulvene-arylamino derivatives with an H-shape design, for a total of six different molecules. The molecular structures consist of two D-A-D units connected by a thiophene or bitiophene bridge, using diarylamino substituents as donor groups anchored to the 2,7- (Group A) and 3,6- (Group B) positions of the dibenzofulvene backbone. The donor units and the thiophene or bithiophene bridges were used as chemico-structural tools to modulate electro-optical and morphological-electrical properties. A combination of experiments, such as absorption measurements (UV-Vis spectroscopy), cyclic voltammetry, ellipsometry, Raman, atomic force microscopy, TD-DFT calculation and hole-mobility measurements, were carried out on the synthesized small organic molecules to investigate the differences between the two classes and therefore understand the relevance of the molecular design of the various properties. We found that the anchoring position on dibenzofulvene plays a crucial key for fine-tuning the optical, structural, and morphological properties of molecules. In particular, molecules with substituents in 2,7 positions (Group A) showed a lower structural disorder, a larger molecular planarity, and a lower roughness.

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