Conjugated Oligomers with Stable Radical Substituents: Synthesis, Single Crystal Structures, Electronic Structure, and Excited State Dynamics

Abstract

Understanding and controlling spin dynamics in organic semiconductors is of significant technological interest. We present a comprehensive joint experimental and computational study elucidating excited-state dynamics and kinetics of oligothiophenes covalently linked to two radicals. The synthesis, steady-state, and ultrafast photophysics, magnetic properties, computational modeling, and single crystal X-ray diffraction of a series of oligothiophenes with appended nitronyl nitroxide (NN) diradicals (RAx and RBx) are presented. We show that incorporation of the diradicals results in an intriguing molecular packing that is reminiscent of organic cages, unusual excited-state dynamics, and interesting photophysical and magnetic properties. We find an increase in the distance and dihedral angle between the diradical rings and the oligothiophene core result in weak antiferromagnetic interactions. Single crystal X-ray diffraction and computational modeling suggest that efficient conjugation along the backbone lea...