On-Surface Synthesis of Ethynylene-Bridged Anthracene Polymers

Engineering low-band-gap p-conjugated polymers is a growing area in basic and applied research. The main synthetic challenge lies in the solubility of the starting materials, which precludes advancements in the field. Here, we report an on-surface synthesis protocol to overcome such difficulties and...

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Detalles Bibliográficos
Autores: Sánchez Grande, Ana, De la Torre, Bruno, Santos, José, Cirera, Borja, Lauwaet, Koen, Chutora, Taras, Edalatmanesh, Shayan, Rosen, Johanna, Zboril, Radek, Miranda, Rodolfo, Björk, Jonas, Jelínek, Pavel, Martín, Nazario, Ecija, David
Tipo de recurso: artículo
Fecha de publicación:2019
País:España
Institución:Universidad Complutense de Madrid (UCM)
Repositorio:Docta Complutense
Idioma:inglés
OAI Identifier:oai:docta.ucm.es:20.500.14352/13868
Acceso en línea:https://hdl.handle.net/20.500.14352/13868
Access Level:acceso abierto
Palabra clave:547
Acenes
low-band-gap semiconductors
polymers
scanning probe microscopy
surface chemistry
Química orgánica (Química)
2306 Química Orgánica
Descripción
Sumario:Engineering low-band-gap p-conjugated polymers is a growing area in basic and applied research. The main synthetic challenge lies in the solubility of the starting materials, which precludes advancements in the field. Here, we report an on-surface synthesis protocol to overcome such difficulties and produce poly(p-anthracene ethynylene) molecular wires on Au(111). To this aim, a quinoid anthracene precursor with =CBr2 moieties is deposited and annealed to 400 K, resulting in anthracene-based polymers. High-resolution nc-AFM measurements confirm the nature of the ethynylene-bridge bond between the anthracene moieties. Theoretical simulations illustrate the mechanism of the chemical reaction, highlighting three major steps: dehalogenation, diffusion of surface-stabilized carbenes, and homocoupling, which enables the formation of an ethynylene bridge. Our results introduce a novel chemical protocol to design p-conjugated polymers based on oligoacene precursors and pave new avenues for advancing the emerging field of on-surface synthesis.