Boron Chemistry Lights the Way: Optical Properties of Molecular and Polymeric Systems

• Published in: Angewandte Chemie International Edition Vol. 41; no. 16; pp. 2927 - 2931
• Main Authors: Entwistle, Christopher D., Marder, Todd B.
• Format: Journal Article
• Language: English
• Published: Weinheim WILEY-VCH Verlag 16.08.2002; WILEY‐VCH Verlag
• Subjects: amorphous materials; boron; electroluminescence; fluorescence; nonlinear optics
• ISSN: 1433-7851; 1521-3773
• DOI: 10.1002/1521-3773(20020816)41:16<2927::AID-ANIE2927>3.0.CO;2-L

Electrooptical and electronic materials are the subject of much research interest, whereby the focus has often been on electron‐rich organic molecules. In the past years, new routes to electron‐deficient systems have been developed that take advantage of the fact that three‐coordinate boron is isoelectronic and isostructural with a positively charged carbocation, which allows neutral, p‐type materials to be synthesized directly. This minireview summarizes recent work on compounds with 3‐ and 4‐coordinate boron as well as boron clusters, placing it in the context of prior studies by the research groups of Williams and Glowgowski, Kaim, Lequan, and Marder. Molecular and polymeric boron‐containing systems are proving to display interesting optical and electrooptical properties. Molecules such as thiophene 1 with a donor (4‐[bis(4‐methylphenyl)amino]phenyl) and an acceptor (dimesitylboryl) substituent, are strongly electroluminescent, and have been incorporated into organic electronic devices.