Flavins are known to be extremely versatile, thus enabling routes to innumerable modifications in order to obtain desired properties. Thus, in the present paper, the group of bio-inspired conjugated materials based on the alloxazine core is synthetized using two efficient novel synthetic approaches providing relatively high reaction yields. The comprehensive characterization of the materials, in order to evaluate the properties and application potential, has shown that the modification of the initial alloxazine core with aromatic substituents allows fine tuning of the optical bandgap, position of electronic orbitals, absorption and emission properties. Interestingly, the compounds possess multichromophoric behavior, which is assumed to be the results of an intramolecular proton transfer.
A series of novel soluble nature-inspired flavin derivatives substituted with short butyl and bulky ethyl-adamantyl alkyl groups was prepared via simple and straightforward synthetic approach with moderate to good yields. The comprehensive characterization of the materials, to assess their application potential, has demonstrated that the modification of the conjugated flavin core enables delicate tuning of the absorption and emission properties, optical bandgap, frontier molecular orbital energies, melting points, and thermal stability. Moreover, the thin films prepared thereof exhibit smooth and homogeneous morphology with generally high stability over time.
Natural or nature-inspired molecules play a key role in many modern applications as they may imitate nature in the efficiency with which it works in a different spectrum of biological processes. One of the biggest challenges today is to make efficient use of renewable energy sources, that are lagging behind conventional technologies on a global scale. One form of this renewable energy is solar energy which can be garnered by organic photovoltaics (OPV). The golden wave of OPV can be observed with the advent of non-fullerene acceptors (NFAs). Chemical derivatizations, low band gap, broad absorption and sufficient stability, predetermine them for the successful construction of functional devices. The review summarizes some important aspects of the use of natural and nature-inspired materials, their design, and use for NFAs, and light power conversion efficiency. We also discuss some photocatalytic applications as a contribution to green renewable energy and solar-fuels production.
scite is a Brooklyn-based organization that helps researchers better discover and understand research articles through Smart Citations–citations that display the context of the citation and describe whether the article provides supporting or contrasting evidence. scite is used by students and researchers from around the world and is funded in part by the National Science Foundation and the National Institute on Drug Abuse of the National Institutes of Health.