Combining form with function - the dawn of phosphole-based functional materials

Phosphole-based pi-conjugated compounds have recently attracted significant attention due their unique electronic properties. It is now well established that the versatile phosphorus chemistry offers great opportunities for efficient fine-tuning of the properties of pi-conjugated systems from a fundamental point of view; a feature that pure carbon-based pi-conjugated materials cannot provide. This perspective highlights the recent progress using phosphole-based pi-conjugated building blocks towards applied materials with multiple and diverse functionalities.