Synthesis, electrochemical, and spectroscopic properties of soluble perylene monoimide diesters

Perylene derivatives are an important class of n-type semiconductors. With the exceptions of bay-substituted and N-swallow-tail alkyl/tert-butyl substituted derivatives, most perylene diimides are insoluble. The recently reported perylene tetraesters are highly soluble, but are less electron-deficient. In this paper, a series of perylene monoimide diesters have been synthesized, which have good solubility and acceptable electron-accepting property due to the introducing of imide and ester groups in one perylene molecule. Their electrochemical properties and structural ordering were examined by cyclovoltammetry and X-ray diffraction technique, respectively. Their absorption and emission spectra are reported and discussed.