Effect of Fluorination of 2,1,3-Benzothiadiazole

The 4,7-dithieno-2,1,3-benzothiadiazole
(DTBT) moiety and its fluorinated
counterpart are important π-conjugated building blocks in the
field of organic electronics. Here we present a combined experimental
and theoretical investigation into fundamental properties relating
to these two molecular entities and discuss the potential impact on
extended π-conjugated materials and their electronic properties.
While the fluorinated derivative, in the solid state, packs with a
cofacial overlap smaller than that of DTBT, we report experimental
evidence of stronger optical absorption as well as stronger intra-
and intermolecular contacts upon fluorination.