Anthracene-Fused Oligo-BODIPYs: a new class of π-extended NIR-absorbing materials

Large π-conjugated systems are key in the area of molecular materials. Herein, we prepare via AuI - catalyzed cyclization a series of fully π-conjugated anthracene-fused oligo-BODIPYs. Their structural and optoelectronic properties were studied by several techniques, ranging from X-ray, UV/Vis, and cyclic voltammetry to transient absorption spectroscopy. As a complement, their electronic structures were explored by means of Density Functional Theory (DFT) calculations. Depending on the size and shape of the π-conjugated skeleton, unique features—such as face-to-face supramolecular organization, NIR absorption and fluorescence as well as strong electron accepting character—were noted. All in all, the aforementioned features render them valuable for technological applicationsments We gratefully acknowledge financial support from the Spanish MICINN through Projects PID2020-116490GB-I00 (Porphyrinoids) and TED2021-131255B-C43 (PERSOLAR). We also thank financial support to the Comunidad de Madrid (MAD2D-CM) and MICINN through project “Materiales disruptivos bidimensionales (2D)” within the Plan de recuperación, transformación y resiliencia (Materiales avanzados). IMDEA Nanociencia acknowledges support from the “Severo Ochoa” Programme for Centres of Excellence in R&D (MINECO, Grant SEV2016-0686). J.L. acknowledges MECD, Spain, for a F.P.U. fellowship. European Commission under the Marie Sklodowska-Curie Action Cofund 2015 (EU project 713366-InterTalentum) is acknowledged for the support for G.D.S. Generous allocation of computational time from the Centro de Computación Científica UAM is gratefully acknowledged. Work in Erlangen was supported by the Deutsche Forschungsgemeinschaft (DFG) through SFB 953 project B10 and the Bavarian Collaborative Research Project “Solar Technologies go Hybrid” (SolTech