Molecular and Supramolecular Architectures of Organic Semiconductors for Field-Effect Transistor Devices and Sensors: A Synthetic Chemical Perspective

Organic field-effect transistors (OFETs) are key devices in organic electronics, and their performances largely depend on molecular structure and solid-state organization of the pi-conjugated compounds used as semiconductors. This microreview reports several examples of materials for OFET devices and sensors, which have been selected to highlight the basic criteria of molecular design together with the synthetic logic driving the development of organic semiconductors. Versatile synthetic methodologies enable to optimize properties by tailoring molecular structures and functionalization, thus playing a key role in the progress of OFET technology, and more in general of organic electronics, which is emphasized in the discussion.