Acene

The larger representatives have potential interest in optoelectronic applications and are actively researched in chemistry and electrical engineering.

Pentacene has been incorporated into organic field-effect transistors, reaching charge carrier mobilities as high as 5 cm2/Vs.

The first 5 unsubstituted members are listed in the following table: Hexacene is not stable in air, and dimerises upon isolation.

The first reports of stable nonacene derivatives claimed that due to the electronic effects of the thioaryl substituents the compound is not a diradical but a closed-shell compound with the lowest HOMO-LUMO gap reported for any acene,[8] an observation in violation of Kasha's rule.

Four years later, in the beginning of 2024, Ruan et al. succeeded in synthesizing unsubstitued tridecacene (n=13) on a (111)-gold surface.