Organic pigments are traditionally used in the mass colouration of plastics and synthetic fibres, and in surface coatings such as paints and inks. More recently, they have also found increasing use in a number of high technology industries. Commercial pigments must satisfy many performance criteria, which in turn are determined by their molecular, solid state and particle surface characteristics. This review highlights some of the important aspects of organic pigments which are of importance to both producers and users. Zhimin Ha0 graduated in 1982 from East China Institute of Chemical Technology, Shanghai, and then went on to study at the University of Leeds, England, where in 1985 he obtained a PhD degree in Colour Chemistry. Following post-doctoral research at North Carolina State University, USA ( I 986-1989), he moved to Zurich to work as a wissenschaftlicher Mitarbeiter in the Industrial Chemistry Laboratories at the Swiss Federal Institute of Technology (ETH). In 1992 he joined Ciba-Geigy Marly Research Centre, now a part of the Ciba Specialty Chemicals Inc., where he is a research scientist in the Pigments Division. Zhimin Hao Abul Iqbal was born in Dacca, Bangladesh, and now lives in Switzerland. He has an MSc in Chemistry from the University of Dacca, and a Diploma and PhD in Applied Chemistry from the Technical University of Aachen in Germany. After his PhD, he spent six years as a staff chemist with Monsanto Research in Zurich. Since 1975 he has worked with Ciba-Geigy, Basle, in pigments research, and currently heads the world-wide research activities of the Pigments Division of Ciba Specialty Chemicals Inc.

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Syntheses and mechanistic aspects of formation of 1,4-Diketopyrrolo[3,4-c]pyrroles (DPP) are discussed. The chemical reactivity of this novel class of heterocycles is illustrated by specific electrophilic aromatic and N-substitution reactions, as well as by nucleophilic transformations of the bicyclic lactam carbonyl group. X-ray structural analysis of the diphenyl-DPP molecule reveals significant intermolecular hydrogen bonding and IT-x interactions in the solid state.

ChemInform Abstract (lecture given at the XIIIth European Colloquium on Heterocyclic Chemistry, University of Fribourg, Switzerland, September 26-28, 1988).

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