New light-emitting functionalized oligothiophenes

We present a new class of highly photo and electroluminescent oligomers based on the presence of one inner thienyl-S,S-dioxide unit as the luminophore. The light emission frequency of the new compounds, which are characterized by greater electron affinities than the corresponding oligomers bearing an unmodified thienyl ring, was tuned over the entire visible range by changing the nature of the alkyl or aryl groups attached in the α- and/or in the β-positions of the thienyl-S,S-dioxide moiety. A few aspects of the solid state supramolecular organization of the new compounds are reported.