Spectroscopic Study of Thiophene-Pyrrole-Containing S,N-Heteroheptacenes Compared to Acenes and Phenacenes

In this study, we report a detailed spectroscopic study concerning the energy levels and vibrational structure of thiophene-pyrrole-containing S,N-heteroacenes. The aim of the study is first, to understand the differences in the photoluminescence (PL) efficiencies in this structurally similar series and second, to compare the electronic structure of S,N-heteroacenes to that of linear acenes and phenacenes, with a view to derive guidelines for the design of singlet fission materials. For S,N-heteroacenes comprising seven fused heterocyclic rings, we observe a higher PL quantum yield for derivatives with terminal thienothiophene units than for thienopyrrole-capped ones. This is assigned to a stronger tendency of the thienopyrrole-capped derivatives to form nonemissive associates in dilute solution, producing emissive excimers at higher concentration. By conducting time-resolved PL studies at 77 K, we further determine the lowest singlet and triplet energies for the S,N-heteroacenes with three, five, and seven fused rings. We show that their energies evolve with oligomer length analogously to those of phenacenes, yet in a fundamentally different way from that of linear acenes. This difference in evolution is attributed to the increasingly biradical character in acenes with increasing chain length in contrast to the S,N-heteroacenes and phenacenes.