Replacement of CC unit with its isoelectronic BN unit in aromatics provides a new class of molecules with appealing properties, which have attracted great attention recently. In this Concept, we ...focus on BN‐substituted polycyclic aromatics with fused structures, and review their synthesis, photophysical, and redox properties, as well as their applications in organic electronics. We also present challenging synthetic targets, large BN‐ substituted polycyclic aromatics, such as regioregular BN heterosuperbenzenes, which can be viewed as BN‐doped nanographenes. Finally, we propose an atomically precise bottom‐up synthesis of structurally well‐defined BN‐doped graphenes.
A new super hero! BN substitution in aromatic systems could provide a new family of interesting compounds. In this Concept, the development of BN‐substituted polycyclic aromatics is reported, and their synthesis, properties and electronic applications are summarized. From monocyclic BN‐substituted benzene to polycyclic BN heteroaromatics (like BN heterosuperbenzene), the possible ways to structurally well‐defined BN‐doped graphenes are proposed.
A room‐temperature, visible‐light‐driven N‐centered iminyl radical‐mediated and redox‐neutral C−C single bond cleavage/radical addition cascade reaction of oxime esters and unsaturated systems has ...been accomplished. The strategy tolerates a wide range of O‐acyl oximes and unsaturated systems, such as alkenes, silyl enol ethers, alkynes, and isonitrile, enabling highly selective formation of various chemical bonds. This method thus provides an efficient approach to various diversely substituted cyano‐containing alkenes, ketones, carbocycles, and heterocycles.
A visible‐light‐driven room‐temperature N‐centered iminyl radical‐mediated and redox‐neutral C−C single bond cleavage/radical addition cascade reaction of oxime esters and unsaturated systems has been accomplished. The strategy tolerates a wide range of O‐acyl oximes and alkenes, silyl enol ethers, alkynes, and isonitrile. This method allows access to various cyano‐containing alkenes, ketones, carbocycles, and heterocycles.
A benzo‐fused double 7carbohelicene (D7H) was synthesized through a regioselective cyclodehydrogenation of a tetranaphthyl‐p‐terphenyl‐based precursor. The twisted (D7H‐1) and anti‐folded (D7H‐2) ...conformers of D7H were separated by recrystallization, and their double helicene structures with overlapping terminal benzene rings were unambiguously elucidated by X‐ray crystallography. A record‐high isomerization barrier (46.0 kcal mol−1) in double helicenes was estimated based on density functional theory (DFT) calculation, which resulted in the excellent conformational stability of D7H. The physicochemical properties of D7H‐1 and D7H‐2 were investigated by UV/Vis absorption spectroscopy and cyclic voltammetry, displaying the variation of electronic structure upon conformational changes. The optical resolution of the racemic D7H‐1 was carried out by chiral HPLC, offering enantiopure D7H‐1‐(P,P) and D7H‐1‐(M,M), which were further characterized by circular dichroism spectroscopy.
Carbon‐rich compounds: An all‐carbon double 7helicene has been synthesized by regioselective cyclodehydrogenation. The compound represents the highest homolog of the double carbohelicenes. The twisted conformers D7H‐1 and D7H‐2 were separated by recrystallization, and their double helicene structures were elucidated by X‐ray crystallography.
New advances in nanographene chemistry Narita, Akimitsu; Wang, Xiao-Ye; Feng, Xinliang ...
Chemical Society reviews,
09/2015, Volume:
44, Issue:
18
Journal Article
Peer reviewed
Open access
Nanographenes, or extended polycyclic aromatic hydrocarbons, have been attracting renewed and more widespread attention since the first experimental demonstration of graphene in 2004. However, the ...atomically precise fabrication of nanographenes has thus far been achieved only through synthetic organic chemistry. The precise synthesis of quasi-zero-dimensional nanographenes,
i.e.
graphene molecules, has witnessed rapid developments over the past few years, and these developments can be summarized in four categories: (1) non-conventional methods, (2) structures incorporating seven- or eight-membered rings, (3) selective heteroatom doping, and (4) direct edge functionalization. On the other hand, one-dimensional extension of the graphene molecules leads to the formation of graphene nanoribbons (GNRs) with high aspect ratios. The synthesis of structurally well-defined GNRs has been achieved by extending nanographene synthesis to longitudinally extended polymeric systems. Access to GNRs thus becomes possible through the solution-mediated or surface-assisted cyclodehydrogenation, or "graphitization," of tailor-made polyphenylene precursors. In this review, we describe recent progress in the "bottom-up" chemical syntheses of structurally well-defined nanographenes, namely graphene molecules and GNRs.
This review discusses recent advancements in nanographene chemistry, focusing on the bottom-up synthesis of graphene molecules and graphene nanoribbons.
Conspectus Nanographenes, which are defined as nanoscale (1–100 nm) graphene cutouts, include quasi-one-dimensional graphene nanoribbons (GNRs) and quasi-zero-dimensional graphene quantum dots ...(GQDs). Polycyclic aromatic hydrocarbons (PAHs) larger than 1 nm can be viewed as GQDs with atomically precise molecular structures and can thus be termed nanographene molecules. As a result of quantum confinement, nanographenes are promising for next-generation semiconductor applications with finite band gaps, a significant advantage compared with gapless two-dimensional graphene. Similar to the atomic doping strategy in inorganic semiconductors, incorporation of heteroatoms into nanographenes is a viable way to tune their optical, electronic, catalytic, and magnetic properties. Such properties are highly dependent not only on the molecular size and edge structure but also on the heteroatom type, doping position, and concentration. Therefore, reliable synthetic methods are required to precisely control these structural features. In this regard, bottom-up organic synthesis provides an indispensable way to achieve structurally well-defined heteroatom-doped nanographenes. Polycyclic heteroaromatic compounds have attracted great attention of organic chemists for decades. Research in this direction has been further promoted by modern interest in supramolecular chemistry and organic electronics. The rise of graphene in the 21st century has endowed large polycyclic heteroaromatic compounds with a new role as model systems for heteroatom-doped graphene. Heteroatom-doped nanographene molecules are in their own right promising materials for photonic, optoelectronic, and spintronic applications because of the extended π conjugation. Despite the significant advances in polycyclic heteroaromatic compounds, heteroatom-doped nanographene molecules with sizes of over 1 nm and their relevant GNRs are still scarce. In this Account, we describe the synthesis and properties of large heteroatom-doped nanographenes, mainly summarizing relevant advances in our group in the past decade. We first present several examples of heteroatom doping based on the prototypical nanographene molecule, i.e., hexa-peri-hexabenzocoronene (HBC), including nitrogen-doped HBC analogues by formal replacement of benzene with other heterocycles (e.g., aromatic pyrimidine and pyrrole and antiaromatic pyrazine) and sulfur-doped nanographene molecules via thiophene annulation. We then introduce heteroatom-doped zigzag edges and a variety of zigzag-edged nanographene molecules incorporating nitrogen, boron, and oxygen atoms. We finally summarize heteroatom-doped GNRs based on the success in the molecular cases. We hope that this Account will further stimulate the synthesis and applications of heteroatom-doped nanographenes with a combined effort from different disciplines.
A photoredox-catalyzed iminyl radical-triggered C-C bond cleavage/addition/Kornblum oxidation cascade of cycloketone oxime esters and styrenes in DMSO is described. This three-component, one-pot ...procedure features mild conditions, a broad substrate scope, and high functional group tolerance, providing an efficient approach to access diversely functionalized ketonitriles.
High‐quality MOF thin films with high orientation and controlled thickness are extremely desired for applications. However, they have been only successfully fabricated on flat substrates. Those MOF ...2D thin films are limited by low exposed area and slow mass transport. To overcome these issues, MOF 3D thin films with good crystallinity, preferred orientation, and precisely controllable thickness in nanoscale were successfully prepared in a controllable layer‐by‐layer manner on nanowire array substrate for the first time. The as‐prepared Cu‐HHTP 3D thin film is superior to corresponding 2D thin films and showed one of the highest sensitivity, lowest LOD, and fastest response among all reported chemiresistive NH3 sensing materials at RT. This work provides a feasible approach to grow preferred‐oriented 3D MOF thin film, offering new perspectives for constructing MOF‐based heterostructures for advanced applications.
Semiconducting MOF 3D thin films with good crystallinity, preferred orientation, as well as precisely controllable thickness in nanoscale were successfully prepared in a layer‐by‐layer manner on a nanowire array substrate. Compared to 2D thin films, the Cu‐HHTP 3D thin film shows one of the highest sensitivity, lowest LOD and fastest response speed among all reported chemiresistive NH3 sensing materials at RT.
Graphene is a fascinating material with unique properties, such as extreme mechanical strength, ultrahigh electrical and thermal conductivities and remarkable transparency. Further reduction in the ...dimensionality of graphene in the form of graphene quantum dots and graphene nanoribbons has compensated for the lack of a bandgap in the extended 2D material. These nanoscale graphenes exhibit finite bandgaps because of quantum confinement, making them attractive as next-generation semiconductors. Numerous fabrication methods for various types of graphenes have been developed, which can generally be categorized into ‘top-down’ and ‘bottom-up’ procedures. These methods afford, on different production scales, a wide range of graphene structures of different sizes, shapes and quality (defect density, edge roughness and so on). Atomically precise syntheses are indispensable for fundamental research and future technological development, but the projection of the existing methods to cost-effective bulk-scale fabrication techniques is required for upcoming industrial applications of graphenes.Numerous fabrication methods have been developed so far for the production of graphenes and nanographenes. However, how practical is the bulk production of these fascinating materials? This Perspective discusses recent advances in graphene fabrication and possibilities for translation to large-scale production.
We present here the synthesis and in‐depth physicochemical characterization of a double hetero7helicene fused with four triazole rings at both helical ends. The comparison of this triazole‐fused ...double helicene with the previously reported all‐carbon and thiadiazole‐fused analogs revealed the huge impact of the embedded aromatic rings on the photophysical features. The small structural variation of the terminal rings from thiadiazole to triazole caused a dramatic change of the photoluminescence quantum yields (PLQYs) from <1 % to 96 %, while the replacement of the terminal benzene rings with triazole rings induced a tenfold enhancement of the circularly polarized luminescence dissymmetry factor. These observations were well corroborated with transient absorption analysis and/or theoretic calculations. In addition, the triazole‐fused double helicene exhibited ambipolar redox behavior, enabling the generation of radical cation and anion species by electrochemical and chemical methods and showing its potential for spin‐related applications.
Controlling the photophysics of double helicenes is facilely achieved by variation of the terminal aromatic rings. Compared to the thiadiazole‐fused and all‐carbon analogs, triazole‐fused double helicene shows significantly enhanced emission with near‐unity quantum yield, and high circularly polarized luminescence brightness of up to 30.1 M−1 cm−1, as well as excellent ambipolar redox behavior.
The role of solution aggregates on the charge transport process of conjugated polymers in electronic devices has gained increasing attention; however, the correlation of the charge carrier mobilities ...between the solution aggregates and the solid‐state films remains elusive. Herein, three polymers, FBDOPV‐2T, FBDOPV‐2F2T, and FBDOPV‐4F2T, are designed and synthesized with distinct aggregation behavior in solution. By combining contact‐free ultrafast terahertz (THz) spectroscopy and field‐effect transistor measurements, we track the charge carrier mobility of the aggregates of these polymers from the solution to the thin‐film state. Remarkably, the mobility of these three polymers is found to follow nearly the same trend (FBDOPV‐2T>FBDOPV‐2F2T≫FBDOPV‐4F2T) in both solutions and thin‐film states. The quantitative mobility correlation indicates that the charge transport properties of solution aggregates play a critical role in determining the thin‐film charge transport properties and final device performance. Our results highlight the importance of investigating and controlling solution aggregation structures towards efficient organic electronic devices.
Different aggregation structures of three BDOPV‐based polymers in solution were obtained via subtle adjustment of the molecular structures. By employing contact‐free ultrafast terahertz (THz) spectroscopy, we directly reveal that the correlation of the charge carrier mobilities between the solution aggregates and the solid‐state films remains highly consistent.