title: Synthesis and optical properties of phenylene-containing oligoacenes.
abstract: Synthesis of a new class of fully unsaturated ladder structures, phenylene-containing oligoacenes (POAs), using 3,4-bis(methylene)cyclobutene as a building block for sequential Diels-Alder reactions is described. The geometric effects of strain and  energetic cost of antiaromaticity can be observed via the optical and electrochemical properties of the reported compounds. The resulting shape-persistant ladder structures contain neighboring chromophores that are partially electronically isolated from one another while still undergoing a reduction in the band gap of the material.
authors.affiliation: Department of Chemistry, Massachusetts Institute of Technology, 77 Massachusetts Avenue, Cambridge, Massachusetts 02139, USA.
authors.forename: Rebecca R
authors.initials: RR
authors.lastname: Parkhurst
authors.forename: Timothy M
authors.initials: TM
authors.lastname: Swager