MRSEC Participants: John Maciejewski and Professor Mamoun Bader

MRSEC Faculty Advisors: Mike Ward and Dan Frisbie

Synthesis, Purification, and Characterization of New Crystalline

Organic Semiconducting Materials

Functionalized derivatives of triphenodithiazine (TPDT), n-thiophene, and n-ethylenedioxythiophene (EDOT) will be synthesized, characterized, and tested in Thin Film Transistor (TFT) applications. Electronic applications involving TPDT are severely limited due to its insolubility in common organic solvents. To remedy this problem, a procedure to functionalize TPDT has been developed. It is believed that these functional groups will not only improve solubility, but increase uniformity in π-π stacking in the solid state.

End substituted (and un-substituted) thiophene/EDOT oligomers will be more deeply investigated for their electronic properties. Oligo-thiophenes are especially versatile since the number of repeat units (n) can be modified through multi-step syntheses. By working with the Suzuki, Stille, Heck, and Grignard reactions, new novel thiophene compounds incorporating the EDOT molecule are anticipated to be produced.