ORGN 440

Thiophene chemistry, specifically oligo- or polythiophene chemistry, has gained much attention in recent years. These molecules have been shown to exhibit high charge mobility and thermal stability which leads to potential application as cheap and flexible semiconductors. Particularly, planarized thiophenes possess ideal Ĉ-electron overlap to allow greater charge mobility and enhanced optical and electronic properties. Utilizing dehydrobenzoannulene chemistry, several planarized fused thiophene systems were prepared that exhibit highly tunable optical properties depending on orientation and number of thiophenes. These structures can also be transformed further to form planarized terthiophene derivatives.