A major deficit in suitable dyes is stifling progress in the dye-sensitised solar cell (DSC) industry. Materials discovery strategies have afforded numerous new dyes; yet, corresponding solution-based DSC device performance has little improved upon 11% efficiency, achieved using the N719 dye over two decades ago. Research on these dyes has nevertheless revealed relationships between the molecular structure of dyes and their associated DSC efficiency. Here, such structure-property relationships have been codified in the form of molecular dye design rules, which have been judiciously sequenced in an algorithm to enable large-scale data mining of dye structures with optimal DSC performance. This affords, for the first time, a DSC-specific dye-discovery strategy that predicts new classes of dyes from surveying a representative set of chemical space. A lead material from these predictions is experimentally validated, showing DSC efficiency that is comparable to many well-known organic dyes. This demonstrates the power of this approach.

The title imides possessing a planar acenaphthofluoranthene moiety were prepared by the Diels–Alder reaction of diacenaphtho[1,2-b:1′,2′-d]thiophene and maleic anhydride and subsequent treatment with amines. The reaction with maleimide afforded the corresponding 1:2 adduct displaying intense blue fluorescence in solution. Although the imides crystallize yellow needles, their amorphous solids are red. Concentration-dependent 1H NMR spectra of a N-octyl derivative reveal self-aggregation behavior in CDCl3.

The title anion 1 was generated as a fairly thermally stable species in tetrahydrofuran (THF) and dimethylsulfoxide (DMSO) by the action of several bases (sodium hydride, potassium hydride, lithium diisopropylamide, and lithium hexamethyldisilazide) with appropriate bicyclo[6.3.0]undecapentaenes. Variable‐temperature 1H NMR spectra of 1⋅Li+ in [D8]THF reveal that the anion exhibits exceptionally large ion‐pairing effects; proton chemical shifts vary by more than 1 ppm as a function of ion‐pairing conditions. Thus, anion 1, in a contact ion pair (Li+ at ambient temperature in THF), behaves as an aromatic cyclopentadienyl anion that is perturbed only slightly by the electronic effects of a paramagnetic cyclooctatetraene (COT), whereas 1 in a separated ion pair (Li+ at low temperatures in THF or at ambient temperature in DMSO) behaves as an overall paratropic species with a 12 π‐electron periphery. 13C NMR spectroscopy indicates no major skeletal rearrangement and only small variations of the electron density. The variable tropicity of 1 can be ascribed to small conformational changes of the molecule. In addition to its unusual, tunable tropicity, anion 1 can also serve as a versatile building block for the synthesis of cyclopentanoid conjugated systems fused to a fully unsaturated eight‐membered ring. A theoretical calculation predicts that the 10‐position of 1 should have the highest electron density. In agreement with this prediction, the reactions of 1 with electrophiles occur predominantly at the 10‐position. The corresponding ferrocene, two fulvenes, two diazo derivatives, and a COT‐fused azulene were obtained by the reactions of 1 with appropriate electrophiles.

Four metal-free organic quinodimethane-based dyes, which represent molecular building blocks for a new class of DSSC dyes, were studied with the objective to improve their photovoltaic performance via molecular engineering strategies. Such strategies can only be systematic and successful if they are derived from knowledge-based paradigms that relate individual aspects of the molecular structure for a given class of dyes to their photovoltaic properties. The optical and electrochemical properties of these dyes were investigated experimentally by UV–vis absorption and emission spectroscopy, as well as cyclic voltammetry and electrochemical impedance spectroscopy. Density functional theory (DFT) and time-dependent DFT (TD-DFT) calculations on these dyes complement these experiments. Among other results, this concerted experimental and computational study revealed that the dialkylaminophenyl moiety in these dyes exhibits a large twist as a result of its ground-to-excited-state optical transition. In particular, a near-perpendicular (88.98°) twist of the dimethylaminophenyl moiety relative to the π-bridging unit that connects the three aryl rings in 2 was observed upon formation of its photo-excited-state structure. Moreover, it was discovered that 2 affords the highest V OC and power-conversion efficiency (PCE) values among these dyes. The particularly high PCE for 2 was found to be due to this twisting of the phenyl ring, which blocks the pathway of electrons from TiO2 to the donor, and hence suppresses undesirable electron recombination at the dye···TiO2 interface. This diode-like effect minimizes undesirable electron-recombination effects and represents an unprecedented structure–property relationship that should be useful for the molecular engineering of larger chromophores in this class of dyes for DSSC applications.

In the molecule of the title compound, C50H49NO2, the acenaphtho[1,2-j]fluoranthene-4,5-dicarboximide framework has an approximately planar structure [maximum deviation = 0.124 (3) Å] and subtends a dihedral angle of 62.94 (8)° with the pendant phenyl group. Two of thetert-butyl groups are disordered over two sets of sites, with occupancy ratios of 0.506 (8):0.494 (8) and 0.669 (17):0.331 (17). An intermolecular short contact between a methyl group and the aromatic ring occurs in the crystal structure.