title: Combining electronic and steric effects for highly stable unsymmetric pentacenes.
abstract: This paper describes the reactivity of unsymmetrically substituted pentacenes to photochemical oxidation. Acenes in general, and pentacenes in particular, are a key family of compounds for a variety of organic electronics applications. The instability of many pentacene derivatives, particularly to oxidation, is an important restriction in their applicability. Several substitution strategies for decreasing the reactivity of pentacene exist, but these almost always involve symmetrically substituted derivatives, restricting the chemical space of structures from which to choose. In this paper, we demonstrate that combining electronic and steric effects yields highly stable unsymmetrically substituted pentacenes.
authors.affiliation: Department of Chemistry, Tufts University, 62 Talbot Avenue, Medford, MA 02155 (USA).
authors.forename: Jingjing
authors.initials: J
authors.lastname: Zhang
authors.forename: Robert H
authors.initials: RH
authors.lastname: Pawle
authors.forename: Terry E
authors.initials: TE
authors.lastname: Haas
authors.forename: Samuel W
authors.initials: SW
authors.lastname: Thomas
keywords: acenes; cycloaddition reactions; oxidation; photochemical reactions; singet oxygen