1 Silyloxy Porphyrin Silanes: Tunable 3-Dimensional Photo- and Electroactive Compounds

Candidate: Zainab Shakeel
Supervisor: Dr. Marc Adler

ABSTRACT

Currently, there is a great demand to synthesize novel organic materials to replace the relatively expensive and toxic inorganic materials used in light-harvesting technologies. Efforts towards improved green chemistry applications require creating organic materials that are redox active, electrically conductive, robust, strong UV and visible light absorbers, lightweight, thermally stable and mechanically flexible.

The Adler group works broadly on the synthesis and use of organosilicon compounds. To this end, this research explores the functionalization of highly conjugated macrocyclic compounds—known as porphyrins—for their future use in relevant organic electronic applications. By derivatizing simple porphyrins in the equatorial positions and modifying porphyrin centres with silicon, three families of novel hexacoordinate silicon porphyrin species have been achieved. In this document, the aim is to discuss the techniques used to characterize the novel bis(silyloxy) porphyrin silanes and understanding the compounds’ behaviour in solution.