A road map to stable, soluble, easily crystallized pentacene derivatives

Article abstract of DOI:10.1021/ol0167356

(figure presented) A series of 6,13-disubstituted pentacenes, in which the substituents are functionalized ethyne units, were synthesized and analyzed by X-ray crystallography. The resulting pentacene derivatives were highly soluble and oxidatively stable and exhibited a significant amount of π-stacking in the crystal.

Full text of DOI:10.1021/ol0167356

ORGANIC
LETTERS
2002
Vol. 4, No. 1
15-18
A Road Map to Stable, Soluble, Easily
Crystallized Pentacene Derivatives
John E. Anthony,* David L. Eaton, and Sean R. Parkin
Department of Chemistry, UniVersity of Kentucky, Lexington, Kentucky, 40506-0055
anthony@uky.edu
Received September 10, 2001
ABSTRACT
A series of 6,13-disubstituted pentacenes, in which the substituents are functionalized ethyne units, were synthesized and analyzed by X-ray
crystallography. The resulting pentacene derivatives were highly soluble and oxidatively stable and exhibited a significant amount of π-stacking
in the crystal.
Organic semiconductors based on extended aromatic systems
are growing in importance as components for electronic
devices.1 Recent studies on the solid state order of these
materials in relation to device performance, particularly in
the area of thin-film transistors (TFTs), have served to
underscore the importance of molecular close contacts and
π-stacking to the fabrication of efficient devices: materials
that yield ordered, π-stacked arrays in the solid state lead to
devices with significantly higher charge mobilities.2 Penta-
cene, one of the most promising organic compounds for
device applications,3 has a crystalline order (often referred
to as “herringbone” packing) with only minimal π-stacking
(Figure 1).4
have shown that even slight increases in carbon-carbon close
contacts lead to dramatically improved device function.6
Numerous attempts have been made to increase close
contacts and π-stacking in pentacene by variations in
deposition methods or by substrate modification.7 We report
here our approach to increasing pentacene π-stacking by
directed functionalization.
Approach. Apart from the potential for improved elec-
tronic properties, acenes are an attractive target for an
exercise in noncovalent self-assembly because they are rigid,
elongated plate-shaped molecules with no hydrogen bonding
groups to consider.8 Thus, the crystalline state can be
controlled by consideration of size, shape, and aromatic
interactions (both edge-to-face and face-to-face). The her-
This solid-state order results in a poor dispersion of the
electronic bands in the solid, implying that pentacene’s
transport properties may be limited by its crystal packing.5
Recent studies on a new crystalline polymorph of pentacene
(1) For a recent review, see: Katz, H. E.; Bao, Z.; Gilat, S. L. Acc. Chem.
Res. 2001, 34, 359.
(2) (a) Li, X.-C.; Sirringhaus, H.; Garnier, F.; Holmes, A. B.; Moratti,
S. C.; Feeder, N.; Clegg, W.; Teat, S. J.; Friend, R. H. J. Am. Chem. Soc.
1998, 120, 2206. (b) Garnier, F.; Horowitz, G.; Fichou, D.; Yassar, D. Synth.
Met. 1996, 81, 163. (c) Dimitrakopoulos, C. D.; Furman, B. K.; Graham,
T.; Hegde, S.; Purushothaman, S. Synth. Met. 1998, 92, 47. (d) Laquin-
danum, J. G.; Katz, H. E.; Lovinger, A. J.; Dodabalapur, A. AdV. Mater.
1997, 9, 36.
Figure 1. Solid-state order of unsubstituted pentacene.
10.1021/ol0167356 CCC: $22.00 © 2002 American Chemical Society
Published on Web 12/15/2001

ringbone packing motif of unsubstituted pentacene represents
a simple combination of edge-to-face and face-to-face
interactions.
Our goal is to disrupt edge-to-face interactions by substitu-
tion at one or more of the peri positions of the acene with a
relatively bulky group. This substituent must be chosen with
care: if this group were attached directly to the acene,
π-stacking interactions would also be disrupted. We therefore
separate the substituent from the acene by a rigid alkyne
spacer (Figure 2, left). The only strong interaction left to
between the stacks related to the size of the substituent. The
size of the substituent will also influence the amount of
π-overlap along the pentacene long axis between any two
adjacent acenes.
Synthesis. Pentacenes substituted at the 6,13-positions are
easily prepared from pentacenequinone by methods that have
been known since the 1940s (Scheme 1).10 Pentacenequinone
Scheme 1. Functionalized Pentacene Synthesis
is added to a solution of the alkynyl Grignard reagent in
THF and stirred at 60 °C until it dissolves. To this solution
is then carefully added a solution of 10% HCl that has been
saturated with stannous chloride; the deep blue pentacene is
formed immediately. Workup involves flushing this solution
through a pad of silica gel with methylene chloride, evapora-
tion, and recrystallization. Noteworthy is the excellent yield
of this reaction: the formation of aryl or alkyl pentacenes
by this method typically gives yields less than 40%.11
Derivatives 2-8 are easily prepared on a multigram scale
from relatively inexpensive starting materials; all are soluble
in common organic solvents, and most of these derivatives
crystallize readily from organic solvents.
Solid-State Analysis. Single crystals of derivatives 3-7
were analyzed by X-ray crystallography. The solid-state
arrangement we envisioned (Figure 2) does indeed describe
the general crystalline order for compounds 3-5 and for one
of the polymorphs of 6 (the tert-butyldimethylsilyl (TBDMS)
group is elliptical rather than spherical; thus, derivative 6
crystallized in two different polymorphs, 6 and 6′). Interplane
distance for all of these pentacene derivatives is 3.41 ( 0.03
Å (essentially at a van der Waals radius). This arrangement
of acenes leads to an excellent overlap of the acene
π-surfaces between adjacent molecules in the stack. A typical
example (the trimethylsilyl derivative 4) is shown in Figure
3. While the size of the alkyne substituent does indeed
influence the amount of π-π overlap along the pentacene
long axis, unpredictable slipping along the pentacene short
Figure 2. Strategy to enhance π-stacking in substituted pentacene.
Left: Representation of substituted pentacene. Right, top: Expected
order, view normal to plane of aromatic rings. Right, bottom:
Expected order, view normal to short axis of aromatic rings,
showing slip-stacking of the acenes.
influence solid-state order is thus aromatic face-to-face
interactions, which we assume will lead to a separation
between acene planes of 3.4 Å. For derivatives with
approximately spherical alkyne substituents, the most ef-
ficient two-dimensional packing is shown in Figure 2 (right).
This arrangement requires a ∼7 Å diameter for the substitu-
ent, since two of these units must occupy the same in-plane
area as one pentacene unit (length ∼ 14 Å).9 The third
dimension of the crystal (the π-stacking axis) will be
comprised of slip-stacked pentacene units, with the spacing
(3) (a) Scho¨n, J. H.; Kloc, Ch.; Batlogg, B. Science 2000, 288, 2338.
(b) Scho¨n, J. H.; Berg, S.; Kloc, Ch.; Batlogg, B. Science 2000, 287, 1022.
(c) Scho¨n, J. H.; Kloc, Ch.; Batlogg, B. Science 2000, 406, 702. (d) Scho¨n,
J. H.; Kloc, Ch.; Bucher, E.; Batlogg, B. Synth. Met. 2000, 115, 177. (e)
Dimitrakopoulos, C. D.; Purushothaman, S.; Kymissis, J.; Callegari, A.;
Shaw, J. M. Science 1999, 283, 822. (f) Dimitrakopoulos, C. D.; Kymissis,
J.; Purushothaman, S.; Neumayer, D. A.; Duncombe, P. R.; Laibowitz, R.
B. AdV. Mater. 1999, 11, 1372.
(4) Holmes, D.; Kumaraswamy, S.; Matzger, A. J.; Vollhardt, K. P. C.
Chem. Eur. J. 1999, 5, 3399.
(5) Cornil, J.; Calbert, J. Ph.; Bre´das, J. L. J. Am. Chem. Soc. 2001,
123, 1250.
(6) Siegrist, T.; Kloc, C.; Scho¨n, J. H.; Batlogg, B.; Haddon, R. C.; Berg,
S.; Thomas, G. A. Angew. Chem., Int. Ed. 2001, 40, 1732.
(7) Gundlach, D. J.; Lin, Y. Y.; Jackson, T. N.; Nelson, S. F.; Schlom,
D. G. IEEE Electron DeVice Lett. 1997, 18, 87.
(8) Desiraju, G. R. Crystal Engineering: The Design of Organic Solids;
Elsevier: New York, 1989.
(9) Substituted pentacenes were constructed in the MacSpartan program
(version 1.1.7, Wavefunction, Inc.). All distances reported are internuclear
distances.
(10) (a) Allen, C. F. H.; Bell, A. J. Am. Chem. Soc. 1942, 64, 1253. (b)
Funk, R. L.; Young, E. R. R.; Williams, R. M.; Flanagan, M. F.; Cecil, T.
L. J. Am. Chem. Soc. 1996, 118, 3291. (c) Miller, G. P.; Mack, J.; Briggs,
J. Org. Lett. 2000, 2, 3983.
(11) Maulding, D. R.; Roberts, B. G. J. Org. Chem. 1969, 34, 1734.
16
Org. Lett., Vol. 4, No. 1, 2002

respect to each other, the molecules within each stack are
still slip-stacked (Figure 4, right), with good π-overlap within
each stack.
Groups smaller than tert-butyl do not occupy enough
volume to fulfill the requirements for packing as described
in Figure 2, explaining why methyl derivative 2 formed
amorphous powders rather than crystals. As has been reported
for other pentacene derivatives, stability in these systems is
highly dependent on substitution.13 Here, pentacene deriva-
tives with substituents that did not enhance crystallinity were
not stable in the solid state. Thus, powders of compound 2
begin to show a color change signifying decomposition
within hours after isolation.
If the diameter of the alkyne substituent is significantly
larger than 7 Å (i.e., roughly twice the pentacene stack
spacing), the solid-state ordering described in Figure 2 can
no longer hold, and the arrangement of molecules in the
solid-state becomes more difficult to predict. For the tri-
phenylsilyl derivative 8, we were only able to isolate powders
that decomposed rapidly, implying (by analogy with the
methyl derivative 2) that there is no efficient solid-state
arrangement for pentacenes with such large substituents. As
we have reported previously, the triisopropylsilyl derivative
7 packs with the silyl groups segregated from the pentacene
units, leading to a two-dimensional “running bond” packing
of the acenes.14
Figure 3. Crystallographic order of compound 4. Left: View
normal to the plane of the pentacenes (cf. Figure 2). Top right:
View down the short axis of the pentacene showing slip-stacking.
Bottom right: Top-down view of slip-stack.
axis (Figure 3, lower right) precludes the development of a
general formula relating substituent size to total π-overlap.
Among these derivatives, projected π-overlap varies from
20% π-surface overlap for 6 to nearly 40% π-surface overlap
for 5.12
Among the derivatives 3-6, the only significant deviation
from the pattern described in Figure 2 occurs when the
diameter of the substituent is significantly smaller than 7 Å
(e.g., the tert-butyl group). While the view down the
crystallographic b-axis (Figure 4, left) closely resembles the
In the second polymorph of the TBDMS derivative (6′),
both of the bulky tert-butyl groups point toward the same
end of the molecule, making the packing described in Figure
2 impossible. This polymorph crystallizes as columnar stacks
of pentacenes, with the tert-butyl groups alternating to avoid
interaction down the stack (Figure 5).
Figure 5. Crystallographic order of compound 6′ (second poly-
morph of 6). Left: Single molecule showing distorted alkynes.
Middle: View down a column of pentacene units. Right: Columnar
order, view down the pentacene short axis.
Figure 4. Crystallographic order of compound 3. Left: View down
crystallographic b-axis. Middle: View 90° to crystallographic b-axis
showing “tilted” pentacene stacks. Right: Within each slip-stacked
column, the pentacene units maintain significant π-overlap.
expected view described in Figure 2, an examination of the
view at 90° to that axis reveals that the pentacene ring
systems of adjacent stacks are not parallel. To accommodate
the small substituent, the pentacene units of this derivative
must move closer together, which requires the pentacenes
in adjacent stacks to tilt in opposite directions (Figure 4,
center). Although adjacent stacks are significantly tilted with
The severe distortion of the alkynes caused by crystal-
lization in the polymorph depicted in Figure 5 (CAr-Csp-
Csp ) 173° and Csp-Csp-Si ) 168°), as well as the excellent
π-overlap present in the columnar arrangement of the acenes,
led us to consider whether we could induce a similar
columnar motif without alkyne distortion by preparing an
(13) Miller, G. P.; Mack, J. Org. Lett. 2000, 2, 3979.
(14) Anthony, J. E.; Brooks, J. S.; Eaton, D. L.; Parkin, S. R. J. Am.
Chem. Soc. 2001, 123, 9482.
(12) Overlap refers to the projected area shared between two stacked
pentacene units.
Org. Lett., Vol. 4, No. 1, 2002
17

With several stable, crystalline pentacene derivatives in
hand, we were anxious to determine whether any of these
derivatives possessed crystalline order when prepared as thin
films. Due to their remarkably high solubility, acceptable
thin films of the invariably nonviscous solutions of these
pentacene derivatives could not be formed by spin-casting
techniques. We thus turned to thin film deposition by
evaporation, which provided uniform thin films (∼1000 Å)
of 3-6 and 10. The stability of the various pentacene
derivatives in thin films was revealed almost immediately:
while all of these pentacene derivatives were stable as
crystals, films of the offset compound 10 decomposed within
a few hours, turning from the deep blue color of pentacene
to pale yellow. Stable films of 3-6 were analyzed by powder
X-ray diffraction analysis showing that, for the most part,
these materials possessed little crystalline order. Only the
TMS derivative 4 showed weak absorptions distinguishable
above baseline noise, giving a d-value of ∼4.4 Å. This
spacing would correspond to the pentacene π-face stacking
on the glass substrate, leading to slip-stacked columns
growing perpendicular to the glass.
Figure 6. Synthesis and crystallographic order of 10. Left: View
down crystallographic b-axis. Top right: Single column, view down
pentacene long axis. Bottom right: View normal to the plane of
the pentacenes showing significant π-overlap.
In conclusion, we have developed a functionalization
model for pentacene that yields materials that crystallize with
a predominant π-stacked order. We have demonstrated a
simple method for the preparation of these stable, soluble
pentacene derivatives, leading to materials that are easily
crystallized from organic solvents. All of these compounds
possessed resistivities several orders of magnitude lower than
that measured in crystals of unsubstituted pentacene. Al-
though evaporated thin films of these materials did not show
a high degree of crystalline order, we are still investigating
their applicability to electronic device fabrication.
unsymmetrical (offset) pentacene derivative. We reasoned
that an alkyne substituent on the offset pentacene with a
diameter slightly smaller than the long axis of the TBDMS
group (6.8 Å) should allow columnar packing without
distortion. Thus, triethylsilyl derivative 10 was prepared,
which did indeed crystallize in nearly columnar stacks, with
no distortion of the alkyne and with excellent overlap (∼55%
projected area overlap) between adjacent molecules in the
stack.
Although the amount of π-overlap varies significantly
between these derivatives, particularly when comparing slip-
stacked 3-6 with columnar-stacked 10, this difference has
little bearing on the resistivity of the crystals. Along the
π-stacking axis, resistivities were relatively consistent from
derivative to derivative, with an average of ∼108 ohm cm.15
Any slight variation in measured resistivity across this series
of derivatives appears to arise more from changes in
orientation of the pentacene units in the stack than from the
absolute amount of π-overlap.16
Acknowledgment. This research was supported by the
Office of Naval Research (N00014-99-1-0859) and the
National Science Foundation (CAREER award CHE-
9875123). We thank Professor Susan Rimmer for assistance
with XRD measurements, and Professor Carolyn Brock for
helpful discussions.
Supporting Information Available: Spectroscopic data
for compounds 3-6 and 10 and crystallographic data for
compounds 3, 4, 6′, and 10. This material is available free
of charge via the Internet at http://pubs.acs.org.
OL0167356
(15) This value is still several orders of magnitude lower than that
reported for unsubstituted pentacene (1014 ohm cm: Scho¨n, J. H.; Kloc,
Ch.; Batlogg, B. Appl. Phys. Lett. 2000, 77, 2473).
(16) A more detailed study of the electronic and photophysical properties
of these crystals is currently underway: Anthony, J. E.; Brooks, J. S.; Eaton,
D. L.; Matson, J. R. Manuscript in preparation.
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Org. Lett., Vol. 4, No. 1, 2002