Consecutive Three-Component Synthesis of Donor-Substituted Merocyanines by a One-Pot Suzuki-Knoevenagel Condensation Sequence

Abstract

The consecutive three-component Suzuki-Knoevenagel condensation (SuKnoCon) synthesis is an efficient, modular one-pot synthetic approach to donor-substituted merocyanines with carboxylic acid functionality. A library of 19 dyes is readily accessible and their electronic properties can be assessed by cyclic voltammetry and absorption and emission spectroscopy. In addition, for illustration of the utility of this concise one-pot concept, several dyes from this library were identified to be well suited as DSSC dyes with relative efficiencies reaching up to 93% of Grätzel's dye N3.