A facile protection-deprotection route for obtaining indigo pigments as thin films and their applications in organic bulk heterojunctions

Chem Commun (Camb). 2013 Jul 11;49(54):6063-5. doi: 10.1039/c3cc42889c.

Abstract

Indigo and its derivatives are industrially-important dyes known for centuries. The low solubility of these compounds limits their applications and hinders potential synthetic chemistry using indigo as a building-block. Herein we report attachment of the tert-butoxy carbonyl (tBOC) thermolabile protecting group to indigos, allowing their processing into neat thin films as well as mixed films with a semiconducting polymer. Photoinduced charge transfer is observed to and from these pigments and the polymer.