Completely encapsulated oligothiophenes: Synthesis, properties, and single-molecule conductance

Article abstract of DOI:10.1002/anie.201104700

Proper shielding: Encapsulated oligothiophenes for the investigation of single-molecule conductance are described. UV/Vis/NIR measurements of the oxidized species show the absence of intermolecular interactions between the conjugated backbones. The conduc

Full text of DOI:10.1002/anie.201104700

Communications
DOI: 10.1002/anie.201104700
Molecular Wires
Completely Encapsulated Oligothiophenes: Synthesis, Properties, and
Single-Molecule Conductance**
Yutaka Ie, Masaru Endou, See Kei Lee, Ryo Yamada, Hirokazu Tada,* and Yoshio Aso*
Since the concept of single molecular electronics has emerged
as a complement to silicon-based electronics in terms of the
bottom-up approach and ultimate miniaturization,[1,2] mole-
cules for building components have been widely devel-
oped.[3–7] p-Conjugated molecules have attracted significant
attention as molecular wires in molecular devices, and their
potential has been shown by systematic studies of photo-
induced charge transfer through their conjugated back-
bones.[8] Among the variety of p-conjugated systems reported
thus far, structurally well-defined oligothiophenes have
become one of the most actively investigated molecules for
two reasons:[7] 1) oligothiophenes exhibit the longest effective
conjugation length of known organic oligomers;[9] and 2) the
high polarizability of the sulfur atom in thiophene effectively
stabilizes the cationic species in various oxidation states. We
previously reported the synthesis of a thiophene 24-mer
bearing anchor groups at both terminal positions,[10] and we
demonstrated the electrical conductance of the thiol-termi-
nated oligothiophene with 10-nm-scale nanogap electrodes.[11]
However, this measurement has remained ambiguous for
precise single-molecule conductivity owing to the possibility
of plural molecular connections between the electrodes and
the possible p–p interactions between the molecules. A break
junction (BJ) method involving the use of a scanning
tunneling microscope (STM) has been established as a
reliable technique for single-molecule measurement.[3] How-
ever, Mayor, Calame et al. recently reported that the
intermolecular p–p interactions between adjacent molecules
also contribute to form molecular bridges between metal
electrodes in STM-based measurements.[12] To address this
situation, we have focused on the encapsulation of the p-
conjugated backbones to prevent intermolecular electronic
communication (cross-talk).[13–15] Although the introduction
of covalently bonded bulky substituents was expected to be a
reliable encapsulation method, the molecular design of
oligothiophenes that circumvents intermolecular interactions
and yet maintains effective conjugation has proven to be
difficult.[16] In particular, a compound incorporating bulky
substituents at all repeating units, a so-called “defect-free
molecule”, that meets these criteria was only recently
successfully synthesized.[17–20] We have succeeded in the
creation of completely encapsulated oligothiophenes, nT’.[21]
However, the steric bulk of the SitBuPh2 (TBDPS) groups in
nT’ restricted the introduction of anchoring functional groups
at the terminal a positions of the oligothiophenes, thus
preventing conductivity measurements. Therefore, we pre-
dicted that a planar fluorene unit in place of the TBDPS
groups would enhance the reactivity at the a positions. Thus,
we have developed the appropriate p-conjugated systems nT
(n = 2, 4, 6) and HSPh-nT-PhSH (introduction of anchor
groups; n = 2, 4, 6) for the measurement of single-molecule
conductivity (Figure 1). Although the conductance measure-
ments[22,23] and conductance mechanism[24] of heterogeneously
substituted oligothiophenes have been reported, the single-
molecule conductivity measurement of homogeneously sub-
stituted oligothiophenes with both effective conjugation and
complete encapsulation has never been achieved. Herein, we
report the synthesis, structure, properties, and single-molecule
conductivity of encapsulated oligothiophenes.
[*] Prof. Y. Ie, M. Endou, Prof. Y. Aso
The Institute of Scientific and Industrial Research (ISIR)
Osaka University
8-1 Mihogaoka, Ibaraki, Osaka 567-0047 (Japan)
E-mail: aso@sanken.osaka-u.ac.jp
Prof. Y. Ie
PREST-JST
4-1-8 Honcho, Kawaguchi, Saitama 333-0012 (Japan)
Figure 1. Chemical structures of encapsulated thiophene-based p-con-
jugated systems.
S. K. Lee, Prof. R. Yamada, Prof. H. Tada
Graduate School of Engineering Science, Osaka University
1-3 Machikaneyama, Toyonaka, Osaka 560-8531 (Japan)
[**] This work was supported by a Grant-in-Aid for Scientific Research
from the Ministry of Education, Culture, Sports, Science and
Technology (Japan), and the Management Expenses Grants for
National Universities Corporations from the Ministry of Education,
Culture, Sports, Science, and Technology (Japan). Thanks are given
to the Comprehensive Analysis Center (CAC), ISIR, Osaka Univer-
sity, for assistance in obtaining elemental analyses.
We envisioned that the zirconocene-mediated transfor-
mation of a diyne into a thiophene ring[25] was appropriate for
the synthesis of our newly designed repeating unit. As shown
in Scheme 1, the reaction of diyne 1[26] with Negishiꢀs reagent,
generated in situ from [Cp2ZrCl2] and 2.0 equivalents of
nBuLi, and subsequent treatment with S2Cl2 afforded 2 in a
79% yield. The direct bromination of 2 with NBS led to the
formation of dibromothiophene 3.
Supporting information for this article is available on the WWW
under http://dx.doi.org/10.1002/anie.201104700.
11980
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Angew. Chem. Int. Ed. 2011, 50, 11980 –11984

Scheme 1. Synthesis of monomer 3. Reagents and conditions:
a) 1) [Cp2ZrCl2], nBuLi, THF, À788C 2) S2Cl2; b) NBS, DMF/CHCl3
(1:1) 08C. DMF=N,N’-dimethylformamide, NBS=N-bromosuccin-
imide, THF=tetrahydrofuran.
Figure 2. Crystal structure of 2T; a) top view and b) side view. Hydro-
gen atoms were omitted for clarity. Thermal ellipsoids drawn at 50%
probability.
Having the key monomer unit 3 in hand, we synthesized
nT by using transition-metal-catalyzed aryl coupling reactions
as summarized in Scheme S1 in the Supporting Information.
The synthesis of HSPh-nT-PhSH is summarized in Scheme 2.
The protected thiol group was successfully introduced to the
stannylated bithiophene 4 by molar-ratio-controlled Stille
coupling reactions with 4-(2-cyanoethylthio)bromobenzene
(5) to give either RSPh-2T-PhSR or 6. Subsequent palladium-
catalyzed homocoupling of 6 in the presence of CuCl2
afforded RSPh-4T-PhSR. The sexithiophene RSPh-6T-PhSR
was obtained by the Stille coupling of 6 with 7. Finally, the 2-
cyanoethyl protecting groups in RSPh-nT-PhSR were easily
removed by treatment with excess amounts of cesium
hydroxide monohydrate to give HSPh-nT-PhSH. To prevent
the formation of insoluble polymeric materials caused by
disulfide formations, HSPh-nT-PhSH was kept in diluted
mesitylene solutions after characterization by mass spectros-
copy.
backbone of the bithiophene without shielding the reactive
terminal a position, thus yielding oligomers that feature
suppressed intermolecular p–p interactions as well as main-
tain terminal functionalization versatility, as demonstrated by
the oligomer synthesis.
The electronic absorption spectra of nT and RSPh-nT-
PhSR were measured in CH2Cl2 solutions; their absorption
maxima are summarized in Table 1. These spectra show an
absorption band in the visible region corresponding to the p–
p* transition of the oligothiophene backbones as well as the
p–p* transition of the fluorene unit centered at l = 280 nm, as
shown in Figure 3a. The absorption maxima derived from the
transitions of the oligothiophene backbones shift to a longer
wavelength when the number of thiophene rings increases
from two to six. The absorption maxima of RSPh-nT-PhSR
corresponding to the p–p* transition of conjugated back-
bones are red-shifted compared to the corresponding nT
compounds (Figure 3b). This shift is due to the extension of
the conjugation into the phenyl rings. The p–p* transition
energies (ET) of nT, nT’, and nonsubstituted oligothiophenes
are plotted against the inverse of the number of thiophene
rings (1/n) in Figure 3c. The linear relationship of the
transition energy for nT is calculated to be ET (eV) = 2.03 +
3.85/n. Its slope (3.85) is almost identical to that of nT’
(3.86),[21] and slightly steeper than that of nonsubstituted
oligothiophenes (3.76).[28] This result clearly indicates that the
presence of insulating fluorene units has little effect on the
effective conjugation length.
Scheme 2. Synthesis of HSPh-nT-PhSH. Reagents and conditions:
a) [Pd(PPh3)4], 5, toluene, reflux; b) CsOH, o-dichlorobenzene/EtOH
(4:1), 508C; c) Pd(OAc)2, CuCl2, THF, RT; d) [Pd(PPh3)4], 7, toluene,
reflux.
The electrochemical properties of nT and RSPh-nT-PhSR
were studied by cyclic voltammetry (CV) in CHCl3/CH3CN
To investigate the influence of the octyl-substituted
fluorene unit, the crystal structure of 2T was determined by
single-crystal X-ray diffraction analysis. Single crystals suit-
able for the analysis were obtained by slow evaporation from
a n-hexane solution.[27] As shown in Figure 2, the molecule lies
on a crystallographic center of symmetry, and thus, the
neighboring thiophene rings adopt a trans conformation and a
completely coplanar structure. The fluorene moieties are at a
dihedral angle of 91.28 with respect to bithiophene, thus
indicating orthogonal arrangement through the spiro carbon
atom. As we expected, the octyl groups cover the conjugated
Table 1: Photophysical and electrochemical properties.
Compounds
lmax [nm][a]
ET [eV][b]
Ep.a. [V][c]
2T
4T
6T
314
413
466
399
457
488
3.95
3.00
2.66
3.11
2.71
2.54
+1.02[d]
+0.37, +0.86[d]
+0.21, +0.49
+0.53
RSPh-2T-PhSR
RSPh-4T-PhSR
RSPh-6T-PhSR
+0.29, +0.55
+0.11, +0.37
[a] In CH2Cl2. [b] ET =1240/lmax. [c] In CHCl3/CH3CN (10:1) containing
0.1m TBAPF6. V vs. Fc/Fc+. [d] Irreversible.
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Figure 4. Cyclic voltammograms of a) nT and b) RSPh-nT-PhSR in
CHCl3/CH3CN (10:1) containing 0.1m TBAPF6.
changes were also observed for Hex-6T (Figure 5b), thus
showing that the conjugated backbones of these sexithio-
phenes are identical in unimolecular electronic properties.
Note that these oxidized species are cleanly reduced to the
neutral species by treatment with hydrazine. As mentioned
above, it has been proposed that the polaronic species of
oligothiophenes form p dimers between charged backbones.
In fact, as shown in Figure 5d, when the polaronic species of
Hex-6T was cooled to 223 K, new bands at 1.1 and 1.8 eV
increased in intensity with a concomitant decrease in the
intensity of the polaronic bands, which is an evidence of p-
dimer formation. In contrast, the polaronic species of 6T,
upon cooling to 223 K, did not exhibit such spectral band
transposition to a higher energy (Figure 5c). This significant
difference between the behavior of 6Tand Hex-6T can clearly
be explained by the encapsulation effect on suppressing the p-
dimer formation of the 6T polaron and thus insulating the p-
conjugated backbones.
Electrical conductance of the molecules was measured
using the BJ method by STM.[3] The STM/BJ measurement
was carried out using mechanically cut gold tips in a 0.1 mm
(approximate) mesitylene solution of the molecules at room
temperature. The substrate was epitaxially grown Au(111) on
mica. Procedures for BJ measurements have been described
previously.[23] The conductance of the metal/molecule/metal
(MMM) junctions is determined from a conductance histo-
gram created from 500–1000 measurements. Figure 6a shows
Figure 3. UV/vis absorption spectra of a) nT and b) RSPh-nT-PhSR in
CH2Cl2. c) Correlations between transition energies (ET) and the
inverse of the number of thiophene rings (1/n) of nonsubstituted
oligothiophenes (squares), nT’ (black circles), and nT (red circles).
(10:1) solutions containing 0.1m tetrabutylammonium hexa-
fluorophosphate (TBAPF6), and the potentials are calibrated
to ferrocene/ferrocenium (Fc/Fc+). The cyclic voltammo-
grams are shown in Figure 4a, and the oxidation potentials
are listed in Table 1. An irreversible oxidation wave for 2T
and reversible oxidation waves for 4T and 6T were observed.
Note that all the oxidation waves are assigned to a one-
electron oxidation process. The first oxidation potentials
decrease with an increase in the conjugation length, which is
in good agreement with our previously reported nT’ trend.[21]
As shown in Figure 4b, reversible oxidations are observed for
all of the thiol-protected compounds since the phenyl capping
of the conjugated backbone increases the stability of the
radical cationic species.
It is important to investigate the oxidized species of the
synthesized oligothiophenes since the oxidized state of
conjugated wire molecules is directly associated with the
active carrier species in single-molecule conduction.
Furthermore, positively charged oligothiophenes tend to
spontaneously form intermolecular dimers (denoted as
p dimers),[29] which we can exploit to evaluate the effect
of encapsulation upon suppressing intermolecular inter-
actions. Thus we measured the UV/Vis/NIR spectra of
6T as it was progressively oxidized with SbCl5 at room
temperature in CH2Cl2 and compared it with the
behavior of the un-encapsulated dihexylsexithiophene
Hex-6T. As shown in Figure 5a, upon one-electron
oxidation of 6T, the band corresponding to the neutral
p–p* transition centered at 2.7 eV was replaced by two
bands assigned to the polaron (radical cation) at 0.8 and
1.6 eV. Furthermore, one-electron oxidation completely
converted the polaron into a bipolaronic species (dicat-
ion), which exhibited a new band at 1.2 eV. This
behavior is in good agreement with the two one-electron
Figure 5. UV/Vis/NIR spectra of a) 6T and b) Hex-6T in CH2Cl2 under
oxidation with SbCl5. Variable temperature UV/Vis/NIR spectra of c) polaronic
oxidation waves observed in the CV. Similar spectral species 6T and d) polaronic species Hex-6T in CH2Cl2.
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which enabled us to introduce anchoring functional groups at
the terminal positions in the conjugated backbones. The
complete encapsulation of the conjugated backbone and the
high co-planarity of the thiophene rings of 2T were unambig-
uously revealed by the X-ray crystallographic analysis. The
UV/vis absorption and CV measurements indicated that
effective conjugation is maintained in the full oligomer series.
The UV/Vis/NIR measurements of the oxidized species
revealed the absence of intermolecular interactions between
the conjugated backbones. The measurement of the single-
molecule conductance was successfully carried out using
modified STM techniques, and the decay constant b was
estimated to be 1.9 nmÀ1. To our knowledge, this is the first
experimentally determined b value of oligothiophenes com-
posed by an electronically equivalent repeating unit. Fur-
thermore, since we have obtained this result by the use of
highly planar oligothiophenes in the absence of intermolec-
ular interactions, this value could become a standard for
forthcoming p-conjugated systems. Therefore, we conclude
that our newly developed encapsulated oligothiophenes have
enabled the elucidation of the electrical characterization of
molecular wires. Additional investigations to increase the
molecular length as well as to introduce optimized anchoring
units to make encapsulated oligothiophenes applicable as
single-molecule devices are currently underway in our group.
Figure 6. a) Conductance transient curves of HSPh-2T-PhSH (black),
HSPh-4T-PhSH (blue), and HSPh-6T-PhSH (red). Plateaus are indi-
cated by the arrows. Example of the conductance transient curve
showing multiple plateaus is shown in HSPh-4T-PhSH. b) Conduc-
tance of HSPh-nT-PhSH as a function of molecular length.
a typical conductance transient curves obtained during the
retraction of the STM tip after contact with the substrate in
the solution of HSPh-nT-PhSH. Plateaus that were observed
at values smaller than G0 were attributed to the conductance
of the MMM junctions since no plateaus were observed in the
same conductance region in pure mesitylene. Several plateaus
were sometimes observed in sequence as indicated by the
arrows in the transient curve of HSPh-4T-PhSH. The sequen-
tial plateau appeared at the conductance of integer multiples
of the smallest plateau, thus, were attributed to the decrease
of the number of molecules bridging the substrate and the
STM tip in parallel. On the basis of the features observed in
current transient curves, we concluded that MMM junctions
were formed by HSPh-nT-PhSH. The conductance of the
MMM junctions were determined from the conductance
histogram as shown in Figure S1 (see the Supporting Infor-
mation). The solid arrows in Figure S1 indicate the peak
positions attributed to the single-molecule conductance.
Figure 6b shows a semilog plot of the conductance as a
function of the molecular length. The tunneling transport was
evident from the exponential decrease in the conductance
with molecular length, which is expressed as Gexp (Àbn)
where b is a decay constant, and n is the number of thiophene
rings or the length of the conduction channel. The decay
constant of the present encapsulated oligothiophene was
estimated to be b = 1.9 nmÀ1 from the observed values shown
in Figure 6b. This value is in agreement with that obtained
from theoretical calculations for nonsubstituted oligothio-
phenes (b = 2.11 nmÀ1).[30] According to density functional
theory (DFT) calculations at the B3LYP/6-31 G(d, p) level of
theory, the distribution and energy level of the HOMO of 6T
is almost identical to that of the nonsubstituted thiophene 6-
mer (see Figure S2 in the Supporting Information). These
results indicate that the molecules synthesized in the present
study possess the intrinsic electronic structures and transport
properties of defect-free oligothiophenes with effective con-
jugation.
Received: July 7, 2011
Published online: September 14, 2011
Keywords: conducting materials · conjugation ·
.
cyclic voltammetry · single-molecule studies · synthetic methods
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