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Jean-Manuel Raimundo

Publications and source records attributed to Jean-Manuel Raimundo.

8 recordsLinked to original sources

Electronic properties and reactivity of short-chain oligomers of 3,4-phenylenedioxythiophene (PheDOT).

The dimer and trimer of 3,4-phenylenedioxythiophene (PheDOT) have been synthesized. Unlike the parent systems based on 3,4-ethylenedioxythiophene (EDOT), these compounds are quite stable under atmospheric conditions. The electronic absorption spectra of di- and tri-PheDOT exhibit a well-resolved vibronic fine structure indicative of self-rigidification of the conjugated structure by noncovalent intramolecular sulfur-oxygen interactions. Comparison of UV-visible data for the PheDOT oligomers with those of the corresponding EDOT oligomers reveals a faster decrease of the HOMO-LUMO gap with chain length for the former. Cyclic voltammetric data show that whereas PheDOT oxidizes at a lower potential than EDOT, the PheDOT dimer and trimer exhibit much higher oxidation potentials than their EDOT-based analogues. A comparative analysis of the electropolymerization of the three PheDOT-based systems shows that although PheDOT is very difficult to polymerize, its dimer and trimer can be readily electropolymerized. This unexpected increase of reactivity with chain extension is discussed with the aid of theoretical calculations.

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Persulfurated aromatic compounds.

Persulfurated arenes have been known for about 50 years but they were underexploited in chemistry in spite of facile, mild, and high-yielding syntheses. Their properties (redox potentials, UV/Vis absorption, conductivity, nonlinear optical properties, etc.) are mainly due to the aromaticity of the ring with sp2-hybridized carbon atoms and to the electronic contribution from numerous divalent sulfur ligands, which also stabilize negative or positive charges. The characteristic conformational patterns of the sulfur ligands often facilitate preorganization in supramolecular assemblies, with or without thiophilic metal cations, for designing redox sensors, ion-selective membranes, clathrates, organic conductors, nonlinear optical materials, liquid crystals, coordination polymers, and bioinorganic systems. A new class of supramolecules with various molecular shapes such as asterisks, chains, wheels, and windmills were reported.

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Alternated quinoid/aromatic units in terthiophenes building blocks for electroactive narrow band gap polymers. Extended spectroscopic, solid state, electrochemical, and theoretical study.

We report here the synthesis of three novel pi-conjugated heterocyclic mixed trimers that contain two electron-donating 3,4-ethylenedioxy-2-thienyl (EDOT) units covalently attached to a central proquinoid electron-accepting thienopyrazine moiety (two of these narrow-HOMO-LUMO gap D-A-D compounds also bear hexyl side chains attached either to the outermost alpha positions of the EDOT end rings or to the beta positions of the pyrazine fused ring). The modification of the terthiophene structure upon EDO, pyrazine, and hexyl substitutions has been treated in detail with spectroscopic and theoretical arguments. Solid-state properties reveal the occurrence of short intramolecular contacts between heteroatoms of adjacent rings. The analysis of the structure of the pi-conjugated backbone of each molecule is consistent with a partial quinoid-like pattern which partially reverts to be subtly more aromatic depending on the topology of the positive inductive effect of the hexyl chains. This quinoidization is a consequence of the appearance of a D(EDOT)-->A(PyT)<--D(EDOT) intramolecular charge transfer which further polarizes the structure. The same chemical concepts have been applied to address their electrochemical behavior. The three mixed trimers exhibit amphoteric properties due to the combination of electron acceptor and donor groups. Given their relative low HOMO-LUMO energy gap, these trimers promise to be good candidates for obtaining polymers with significant low energy gap combining electroactivity.

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Effect of local molecular structure on the chain-length dependence of the electronic properties of thiophene-based pi-conjugated systems.

Three series of thiophene-based pi-conjugated oligomers built with different combinations of thiophene cycles and double bonds have been synthesized and characterized. The analysis of the chain length dependence of the electronic, electrochemical, and vibrational properties of the three series of oligomers has been carried out using cyclic voltammetry, UV-vis, IR, and Raman spectroscopies. These various investigations provide consistent results showing that incorporation of ethylenic linkages in an oligothiophene structure leads to a faster decrease of the HOMO-LUMO gap with chain extension due to the combined effects of enhanced planarity and lower overall aromatic character of the system. Although the incorporation of two consecutive double bonds in the system leads to a stabilization of the dicationic state, this structural modification does not produce the expected further decrease of the HOMO-LUMO gap at large chain extension. This phenomenon is discussed on the basis of an interplay between aromaticity and bond length alternation.

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Vibrational and quantum-chemical study of push-pull chromophores for second-order nonlinear optics from rigidified thiophene-based pi-conjugating spacers.

Two types of push-pull chromophores built around thiophene-based pi-conjugating spacers rigidified by either covalent bonds or noncovalent intramolecular interactions have been analysed by means of IR and Raman spectroscopical measurements in the solid state as well as in a variety of solvents. Comparison of the Raman features of NLO-phores based on a covalently rigidified dithienylene (DTE) spacer with those of their open chain DTE analogues shows that the bridging of the central double bond of DTE with the nearest beta-positions of the thienyl units through two ethylene bridges significantly improves the intramolecular charge transfer. This also occurs for NLO-phores based on a 2,2'-bi(3,4-ethylenedioxythiophene) (BEDOT) spacer as compared with their corresponding parent compounds based on an unsubstituted bithiophene (BT) spacer. For NLO-phores based on a BEDOT spacer, noncovalent intramolecular interactions between sulfur and oxygen atoms are responsible for the rigidification of the spacer. The Raman spectra of these NLO-phores obtained in the form of solutes in dilute solutions reveal two different behaviours: i) chromophores based on covalently bridged or open chain DTE spacers display Raman spectral profiles in solution quite similar to those of the corresponding solids, with a very little dependence on the polarity of the solvent, while ii) larger spectral changes are noticed for NLO-phores built around BEDOT or BT spacers on going from solids to solutions. In the second case, spectral changes must be ascribed not solely to conformational distortions of the donor and acceptor end groups with respect to the pi-conjugated backbone mean-square-plane (as for the DTE-based NLO-phores) but also to distortions of the thienyl units of the pi-conjugating spacer from coplanarity. The insertion of vinylenic bridges between the thienyl units of the pi-conjugating spacer and between the spacer and the donor and acceptor end groups is a suitable strategy to reach a fairly large intramolecular charge transfer both in polar and nonpolar solvents. Density functional theory (DFT) calculations have been carried out to assign the relevant electronic and vibrational features and to derive useful information about the molecular structure of these NLO-phores.

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Design and synthesis of push-pull chromophores for second-order nonlinear optics derived from rigidified thiophene-based pi-conjugating spacers.

Two series of push-pull chromophores built around thiophene-based pi-conjugating spacers rigidified either by covalent bonds or by noncovalent intramolecular interactions have been synthesized and characterized by UV-vis spectroscopy, electric field induced second harmonic generation (EFISH) and differential scanning calorimetry. Comparison of the linear and second-order nonlinear optical properties of chromophores based on a covalently bridged dithienylethylene (DTE) spacer with those of their analogues based on open chain DTE shows that the rigidification of the spacer produces a considerable bathochromic shift of the absorption maximum together with a dramatic enhancement of the molecular quadratic hyperpolarizability (mu beta) which reaches values among the highest reported so far. A second series of NLO-phores has been derived from a 2,2'-bi(3,4-ethylenedioxythiophene) (BEDOT) pi-conjugating spacer. As indicated by X-ray and UV-vis data, rigidification of the spacer originates in that case, from noncovalent intramolecular interactions between sulfur and oxygen atoms. Again, comparison with the parent compounds based on an unsubstituted bithiophene spacer reveals a marked red shift of the absorption maximum and a large enhancement of mu beta. In an attempt to distinguish the contribution of the electronic and geometrical effects of the ethylenedioxy group, a third series of NLO-phores based on 3,4-ethylenedioxythiophene (EDOT) and 3,4-dihexyloxythiophene spacers has been synthesized. Comparison with compounds based on unsubstituted thiophene shows that, despite a red shift of lambda(max), introduction of alkoxy groups leads to a decrease of mu beta. Theoretical calculations indicate that this effect results from a decrease of the dipole moment (mu) caused by the auxiliary electron-donor alkoxy groups on the thiophene ring. In contrast, replacement of BT by BEDOT produces an increase of mu, which associated with the noncovalent rigidification of the BT system accounts for the observed enhancement of mu beta.

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