New Organic Chemistry and Materials Science of Curved π-Conjugated Molecules

Abstract

A key molecule in a number of functional materials is the π-conjugated molecule because of the impressive range of properties, including light absorption and emission, as well as charge transportation. Often used as active components of organic electronic and photoelectronic materials and sensors, they have attracted a great deal of attention from the research community for these valuable properties that have considerable potential for commercialisation. A variety of new π-conjugated molecules have been designed and synthesised, from smaller molecules to macromolecules (polymers). Professor Shigeru Yamago, from the Institute for Chemical Research at Kyoto University, is an expert in the field of radical chemistry, and heads up a research team that has developed a new and efficient method for synthesising structurally uniform curved and hooped π-conjugated molecules. Yamago and his team are seeking to clarify how the structure of these molecules affects their physical properties and reactivities. They hope to eventually find applications for them as organoelectronic and organophotoelectronic materials, sensors and other devices in materials science.