Ladder-Type Heteroacenes-New Classes of Electro-Optic Materials

凭借这一奖项，大分子、超分子和纳米化学（MSN）项目将支持芝加哥大学的于鲁平教授开发一系列通过熔融环连接的阶梯结构的新化合物。这些半导体化合物可以在从太阳能电池到分子电子元件的电子和光学应用中找到用途。该研究涉及新合成方法的开发、结构表征和物理测量，丰富了我们对半导体有机材料和有机/聚合物化学的化学和物理的理解。这个跨学科的项目将化学、材料科学和计算结合起来，为一类新的化合物产生新的研究方向和合成策略。学生和博士后接受跨学科的培训，学习应对未来科学挑战所需的技能。被忽视的少数族裔学生被招募并鼓励从事科学事业。本项目的目标是开发一系列基于噻吩苯并噻吩及其类似物的新型阶梯共轭低聚物。该合成方法是制备一系列定义良好的阶梯低聚物的通用途径，阶梯低聚物是一类新的半导体分子，可用于从光伏太阳能电池到分子电子学的各种电光应用。研究工作包括：具有不同电子和结构特征的新型阶梯低聚物的合成、结构表征、用于超分子组装的嵌段共聚物的合成以及这些新体系的电光性质的探索。由于缺乏可溶分子的可行合成方法，共轭阶梯低聚物尚未得到充分的研究。从这个项目中获得的一类新的“完美”阶梯低聚物可能是可溶的，可以在溶液和固体状态下进行详细的表征。从这些研究中获得的知识可以丰富对共轭体系结构-性质关系的理解。

With this award, the Macromolecular, Supramolecular and Nanochemistry (MSN) Program is supporting Professor Luping Yu at the University of Chicago to develop a series of new compounds with laddered structures connected via fused rings. These semiconductor compounds may find uses in electronic and optic applications ranging from solar cells to molecular electronic components. The research involves development of new synthetic approaches, structural characterization, and physical measurements and enriches our understanding of the chemistry and physics of semiconducting organic materials and of organic/polymer chemistry. This interdisciplinary project integrates chemistry, material science and computation to generate new research directions and synthetic strategies for a new class of compounds. Students and postdoctoral associates receive interdisciplinary training and learn the skills necessary to face future scientific challenges. Underrepresented minority students are recruited and encouraged to pursue scientific careers.The goal of this project is to develop a series of new ladder conjugated oligomers based on thienobenzothiophene and its analogs. The synthetic approach is a versatile route to preparing a series of well-defined ladder oligomers which are a new class of semiconducting molecules for various electro-optic applications ranging from photovoltaic solar cells to molecular electronics. Several research efforts are undertaken including: synthesis of new ladder oligomers with different electronic and structural features, structural characterization, syntheses of block copolymers for supramolecular assembly, and exploration of the electro-optic properties of these new systems. Conjugated ladder oligomers have not been fully investigated due to the lack of a feasible synthetic approach to soluble molecules. A new class of "perfect" ladder oligomers obtained from this project may be soluble, allowing detailed characterization both in solution and in the solid state. The knowledge gained from these studies may enrich understanding of structure-property relationships of conjugated systems.