SYNTHESIS AND CHARACTERIZATION OF HETEROCYCLIC INTERMEDIATES FOR ASSEMBLING MATERIALS ENDOWED WITH IMPROVED ELECTRONIC AND OPTOELECTRONIC PROPERTIES

The aim of the doctorate thesis research was the design, synthesis and characterization of heterocyclic compounds which appeared as promising intermediates for assembling high performing materials for electronic and optoelectronic devices. Organic semiconductors as active materials in thin film electronic devices offer several major advantages over their inorganic counterparts. They can be processed by a multitude of different methods, the most important of which are vapour deposition and solution-based processes, such as spin-coating and printing techniques. The deposition of thin films can be carried out even at room temperature, with production costs considerably lower than those involved in assembling inorganic devices. Organic optoelectronic devices can be fabricated on commercially available and inexpensive flexible substrates, paving the way for allplastic electronics and transparent devices.1 The project has been developed towards the preparation of new typologies of materials to be employed in as largest as possible variety of electronic devices. Even though each molecule should in theory display features tailored to satisfy the driving conditions of a specific device, our structural design is based on the prerequisite of “filling the space” by developing new 3D, analytically and structurally defined macromolecules rather than polymers. The innovation to the state-of-the-art given by this kind of molecules relies on the enhanced performances of the devices, coupled with an improved isotropy of the material in the solid state which greatly facilitates their application in any kind of device.