Synthesis and Characterization of Nitrobenzoylthiourea Derivatives as Potential Conductive Biodegradable Thin Films

The application of thiourea derivatives as conjugated molecular wire candidates in the field of material sciences has attracted great attention recently. To date, conjugated thiourea systems as molecular wires are surprisingly unexplored although the well-known rigid π-systems promise a wide range of electronic properties. Due to this matter, five novel thiourea derivatives A-ArC(O)NHC(S)NHAr-D with polar head and tail groups, namely NO2 (acceptor A) and alkoxy with varying chain lengths (donor D = OCnH2n+1, n = 6, 7, 8, 9, 10), were successfully synthesized and characterized. All compounds were characterized by IR, UV-vis, 1H and 13C NMR spectroscopy, and CHNS elemental microanalysis. The investigation of their potential as dopant systems in polymer conducting films has been accomplished by incorporating of chitosan via the solution casting technique. The conductivity values were obtained using impedance spectroscopy. They show that the ionic conductivities of the N-(4-alkoxyphenyl)-N’-(4-nitrobenzoyl)thioureas increase with increasing chain length of the alkoxy chain. The compounds exhibit great potential for the exploration of future applications as doping systems in conductive materials.