Milan Kivala: Triarylamines: New Tricks for Old Dogs

The incorporation of heteroatoms directly into the sp2-carbon skeleton of polycyclic aromatic hydrocarbons (PAHs) provides a powerful tool - next to variation of their size and periphery and/or lateral decoration with various substituents - to manipulate the optoelectronic properties and supramolecular behavior.[1] Nitrogen is particularly appealing in this context as it can readily adopt a planar sp2-hybridized geometry to enable for efficient electronic communication with the surrounding  system. The resulting nitrogen-containing PAHs are highly attractive objects for experimental and theoretical studies as defined molecular fragments of heteroatom-doped carbon allotropes on one hand and as functional materials for diverse applications on the other. We have recently identified various relatively simple triarylamines[2] as versatile building blocks for the construction of unprecedented nitrogen-containing PAHs with appealing electronic and materials characteristics.[3-5] In this talk, our respective efforts involving synthesis in solution and on surfaces will be presented and fundamental characteristics of the resulting compounds discussed.