Facile Synthesis, Structure, and Properties of Benzo[1,2-<i>b</i>:4,5-<i>b</i>‘]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 UV−vis spectra.