UC Case Nos. 2019-232 and 2019-959
SUMMARY
UCLA researchers in the Department of Chemistry & Biochemistry have developed an approach to synthesizing nitrogen-containing polycyclic aromatic hydrocarbons with high yield and desirable photophysical properties as well as a modular platform to synthesize small molecules with photophysical properties that may be useful in devices such as solar cells and organic light emitting diodes.
BACKGROUND
Heterocyclic compounds are widely used in small-molecule pharmaceutical intermediates. There is also a growing need for new heterocyclic compounds with interesting photophysical properties, for application in electronic devices such as OLEDs and solar cells. Heterocyclic compounds, especially those including nitrogen, have been studied extensively in high performance OLED devices but challenges still remain in identifying new heterocyclic structures and discovering ways to synthesize them using a scalable approach. Thus, there is a need for new approaches to heterocyclic compounds at high yield with desirable photophysical properties for use in electronic devices.
INNOVATION:
UCLA researchers have developed a facile synthetic chemistry method to make polyaromatic hydrocarbon compounds that contain nitrogen substituents. The method provides access to a range of interesting and unique compounds which, when coupled with the platform, allow for the development of compounds with enticing photophysical properties. The synthesis’ modular approach allows access to compounds with four axes of substitution, such as four different aromatic groups. The method has been successfully used to introduce an additional heterocycle to a system with 73% yield, and the platform has been able to successfully generate a diverse set of polycyclic aromatic hydrocarbons.
POTENTIAL APPLICATIONS
• Organic synthesis
• Pharmaceutical intermediates
• Fluorescent molecules
• OLEDs
• Organic solar cells
ADVANTAGES
• Facile synthesis method
• Enticing photophysical properties
• High product yield
• Diverse compounds possible
RELATED MATERIALS
• Barber, J.S., Yamano, M.M., Ramirez, M., Darzi, E.R., Knapp, R.R., Liu, F., Houk, K.N. and Garg, N.K., 2018. Diels–Alder cycloadditions of strained azacyclic allenes. Nature Chemistry, 10(9), p.953.