p-Type Semiconducting Ladder Poly(pyrrolobenzothiazine)s: Effects of N-Alkyl Side Chains on the Chain Conformation, Electronic Structure, and Charge Transport Properties

Ambipolar conjugated ladder polymers by room-temperature Knoevenagel polymerization

“…When going from P1 to P2 , the increasing of molecular weights and more regular surface morphology are responsible for the enhancement of charge transport ability. It should be mentioned that, apart from n-type BBL ( μ e , as high as 0.1 cm 2 V −1 s −1 ), 11 the known cLPs generally give low mobilities of around 10 −6 to 10 −3 cm 2 V −1 s −1 when used for OFETs (Table S5†); 12,14–16 the ambipolar mobilities observed for P2 are quite satisfactory and can be correlated with the orderly face-on packing and partial crystallization in the solid-state films. To the best of our knowledge, they are the first examples of ambipolar cLPs featuring excellent solution-processability and attractive red fluorescence.…”

“…5,6 These unique structural characteristics make it possible to generate outstanding thermal/chemical stability, strong inter-chain organization, high intra-chain carrier mobility, and extraordinary photo-/electro-luminescence properties. 7–9 They are regarded as the perfect targets for various functional applications, and are already adopted as semiconductor layers in organic light-emitting diodes, 10 organic field-effect transistors (OFETs), 11–16 organic thermoelectrics, 17,18 organic lasers, 19,20 and lithium ion batteries. 21,22 Despite these amazing prospects, development of structurally defined cLPs is still extremely challenging due to the scarcity of effective synthetic strategies and poor solubility.…”

“…36,37 The other strategy for the preparation of cLPs is a single-step ladderization route that involves a simultaneous formation of a two-stranded bond between comonomers. 38 Compared with the two-step strategy, this approach is more facile, only involving one-step condensation of one or more multifunctional monomers via polycondensation reactions 15–18,39,40 or Diels–Alder polymerizations. 41,42 One of the most heavily explored ladder polymers, i.e.…”