Synthesis of Organo-Iron(II) Complexes Including N-Heterocyclic Carbene Ligation as Solar Cell Material.

Abstract: The push-pull design has been shown to increase DSC performance through the introduction of electron-withdrawing groups and electron-donating groups, usually on opposite far ends of the sensitizer. The scope of this thesis was to synthesize several pre-N-heterocyclic carbene ligand analogs that are inspired by the push-pull design in an attempt to investigate their susceptibility to Fe(II) complexation. Four pre-N-heterocyclic carbene ligands were synthesized followed by four complex attempts, where one homoleptic complex and one heteroleptic complex were successfully synthesized.