Face-to-Face Packing of 2,3,9,10-Tetrasubstituted Pentacene Derivatives Revealed through a Solid State [4+4] Thermal Cycloaddition and Molecular Dynamic Simulation

2,3,9,10-Substituted pentacene tetraesters and pentacene diester-dinitriles were synthesized. These pentacene derivatives underwent an unusual solid state [4 + 4] thermal dimerization with good efficiency and complete stereo selectivity. This observation indicates this series of pentacene derivatives adopt pi-pi stacking geometry with large mutual overlap in solid state. This notion was confirmed by molecualr dynamic simulation.