Head-to-Tail Zig-Zag Packing of Dipolar Merocyanine Dyes Affords High-Performance Organic Thin-Film Transistors

Attachment of bulky substituents at both thiophene donor (D) and thiazole acceptor (A) heterocycles of a dipolar ((g)=10.4D) D--A merocyanine dye affords a more than 1 angstrom expansion of the common antiparallel supramolecular dimer motif in the solid state, enabling very close -contacts (3.36 angstrom) to two other neighbor molecules on each of the two remaining -faces. This unusual packing motif leads to three-dimensional percolation pathways for hole transport and affords thin-film transistors with mobility up to 0.64cm(2)V(-1)s(-1).