Facile synthesis, structure, and properties of benzo[1,2-b:4,5-b′]dichalcogenophenes

A general and convenient synthesis of benzo[1,2-b:4,5-b']-dichalcogenophenes including the thiophene (BDT, 1), selenophene (BDS, 2), and tellurophene (BDTe, 3) homologues is developed. Thus synthesized heterocycles are structurally characterized by single-crystal X-ray analysis, and all three homologues are isostructural with one another. They all have completely planar molecular structures packed in a herringbone arrangement. Their physicochemical properties were also elucidated by means of cyclic voltammetry (CV) and LTV-vis spectra.