New sulfonated perylene diimide pyrazolate ligands: a simple route toward n-type redox-active hybrid materials

We report the synthesis and the in depth electrochemical study of two novel electron accepting sulfonated perylene diimide pyrazolate ligands. Bridging the sulfone moieties of the perylene core unexpectedly affected the optical and electronic properties as evidenced by spectroelectrochemical investigation. Notably, we achieved a significant lowering of the LUMO level to -4.83 eV, ranking the ligand among the best electron acceptors via a straightforward synthetic procedure. These ligands can be foreseen for the development of n-type functional materials.