Seminar Series - Kenneth Maly

The Design of New Organic Materials: Synthesis and Self-Assembly of Novel Polycyclic Aromatic Hydrocarbons

Polycyclic aromatic hydrocarbons are a diverse class of compounds with potential applications as organic semiconductors and light emitting materials.  In many cases, the properties of these materials depend not only on molecular structure, but also on how these molecules are organized.  In this presentation, I will outline some of our efforts to design and synthesize new polycyclic aromatic hydrocarbons that are designed to self-assemble in predictable ways.  For example, we will explore strategies for promoting π-stacking in columnar liquid crystals derived from dibenz[a,c]anthracenes and triphenylenes.  I will also describe our efforts to prepare new luminescent compounds based on heterocyclic aromatic compounds prepared via nucleophilic aromatic substitution reactions and highlight their unexpected reactivity.