Phenylene Thiophene Polymers and Oligomers for Organic Electronics: Synthesis, Properties and Applications in Devices

Several organometallic methods are used to synthesize p-conjugated molecules and polymers with alternating thiophene-dialkoxyphenylene units in the conjugated backbone. Here we describe our approaches to the synthesis of materials based on the dialkoxyphenylenethienylene structural motif via palladium catalyzed cross-coupling reactions of organomagnesium or organoboron reagents with aryl halides. The properties of the resulting compounds and their applications in (opto)electronic devices (organic field effect transistors, resistive gas sensors, field effect chiral sensors, photoelectrochemical cells and bulk-heterojunction solar cells) are also discussed, highlighting the role of the synthetic logic in the design of multifunctional organic materials.