The systematic extension of the pi-conjugated system of strongly blue-luminescent dithieno[3,2-b:2',3'-d]phospholes has been investigated with the goal of obtaining different emission colors. Functionalization of the 2- and 6-position of the dithienophosphole scaffold with halogen substituents provided functional building blocks for subsequent cross-coupling experiments with various homo- and heteroaryls to selectively decrease the band gap of the materials. By this strategy materials with different emission colors ranging from green via yellow to orange could be obtained. This feature supports their suitability for organic light-emitting diodes with respect to an application in full-color flat-panel displays. The experimental results were nicely supported by theoretical DFT calculations providing a deeper understanding of the electronic structure in the extended materials, and also allowing for the design of future materials based on a dithienophosphole core. Furthermore, the phosphorus center in the extended molecular materials can efficiently be fine-tuned in subsequent simple chemical functionalizations. This allows for a tailoring of the optoelectronic properties of the extended dithienophospholes to suit the requirements of potential applications.

Benzo-condensed dithieno[3,2-b:2',3'-d]phospholes have been synthesized that allow convenient tuning of properties that are essential for application as semiconductor materials in organic field-effect transistor (OFET) devices. The versatile reactivity of the trivalent phosphorus atom in these heteropentacenes provides access to a series of materials that show different photophysical properties, significantly different organization in the solid state, and distinctly different electrochemical properties that can be achieved by simple chemical modifications. The materials show strong photoluminescence in solution and in the solid state that depends on the electronic nature of the phosphorus center. Electrochemical studies revealed that the phosphorus atom intrinsically furnishes materials with n-channel or ambipolar behavior, also depending on its electronic nature. The experimental data were verified by DFT quantum chemical calculations and suggest that the phosphorus-based heteropentacenes could be excellent candidates for n-channel OFET semiconductor materials.

2-Ammoniumethanethiolate, (-)SCH(2)CH(2)NH(3)(+), the first structurally characterized zwitterionic ammoniumthiolate, is the stable form of cysteamine (HL) in the solid state and in aqueous solution. Reactions of ZnCl(2), Cd(Oac)(2), and HgCl(2) with cysteamine and NaOH in a 1:2:2 ratio, respectively, lead to the homoleptic complexes ML(2). Their single-crystal X-ray structures demonstrate basic differences in the coordination chemistry of Zn(II), Cd(II), and Hg(II). While chelating N,S-coordination modes are found for all metal ions, Zn(II) forms a mononuclear complex with a distorted tetrahedral Zn(N(2)S(2)) coordination mode, whereas Hg(II) displays a dimer with Hg(N(2)S(2)) coordinated monomers being connected by two long Hg...S contacts. Solid-state (199)Hg NMR spectra of HgL(2) and [Hg(HL)(2)]Cl(2) reveal a low-field shift of the signals with increasing coordination number. Strong and nearly symmetric Cd-S-Cd bridges in solid CdL(2) lead to a chain structure, Cd(II) displaying a distorted square pyramidal Cd(N(2)S(3)) coordination mode. The ab initio [MP2/LANL2DZ(d,f)] structures of isolated ML(2) show a change from a distorted tetrahedral to bisphenoidal coordination mode in the sequence Zn(II)-Cd(II)-Hg(II). A natural bond orbital analysis showed a high ionic character for the M-S bonds and suggests that the S-M-S fragment is best described by a 3c4e bond. The strength of the M...N interactions and the stability of ML(2) toward decomposition to M and L-L decreases in the sequence Zn > Cd > Hg. Ab initio calculations further suggest that a tetrahedral S-M-S angle stabilizes Zn(II) against substitution by Cd(II) and Hg(II) in a M(N(2)S(2)) environment. Such geometry is provided in zinc-finger proteins, as was found by a database survey.

A series of dithieno[3,2-b:2',3'-d]phosphole-based transition metal complexes, including Au, Fe, Pt, Rh and W as central metals have been synthesised and characterised. Structural investigations by X-ray single crystal crystallography supported the high degree of pi-conjugation in the dithienophosphole ligands. This essential requirement for potential applications in molecular electronics and optoelectronics provides small band gaps for the materials. Investigations toward the optoelectronic properties of the respective complexes by fluorescence spectroscopy indicated that systematic alterations of the electronic structure are connected to different variables such as transition metal employed, functionalisation of the dithienophosphole ligands as well as complex geometries. The investigated Pt-based complexes exhibit only poor photoluminescence whereas Rh-, W- and Fe-based species with silyl functionalised dithienophosphole ligands show appreciable photophysical properties. The Au complexes investigated exhibit strong photoluminescence properties with very intriguing features in terms of excitation and emission wavelengths, intensity as well as selectivity.

Cationic dithieno[3,2-b:2',3'-d]phospholes are accessible very efficiently by methylation of the phosphorus center. Further functionalization with bromo substituents in 2,6-positions affords a polymerizable monomer that can be copolymerized with a difunctionalized fluorene in a Suzuki-Miyaura-type cross-coupling protocol. The monomers as well as the resulting conjugated polyelectrolyte based on the phospholium units show very intriguing photoluminescence properties, even in the solid state. [structure: see text]