Achieving Closed-Loop Recycling of a Semi-Conjugated Polymer Through the Incorporation of Ester Linkers Along the Backbone.

Design strategies to achieve degradation and ideally closed-loop recycling of organic semiconductors have attracted great interest in order to minimize the electronic waste (E-waste). In this work, three ester-incorporated monomers were synthesized by the names of Thiophene-Ester-Ethylene-Thiophene (TEET), Thiophene-Ester-Methylene-Thiophene (TEMT), and Thiophene-Ester-Thiophene (TET), which were co-polymerized via Stille polycondensation with a benzodithiophene (BnDT) π-conjugated unit to yield a series of ester-incorporated polymers: PBnDT-TEET, PBnDT-TEMT, and PBnDT-TET. While the ester-only linker can maintain some extended conjugation in PBnDT-TET, the other two ester linkers having conjugation breaking units result in isolated conjugated segments in PBnDT-TEET and PBnDT-TEMT, evidenced by UV-Vis and CV results.

Optimized Incorporation of Furan into Diketopyrrolopyrrole-Based Conjugated Polymers for Organic Field-Effect Transistors.

Flexible electronics have received considerable attention in the past decades due to their promising application in rollable display screens, wearable devices, implantable devices, and other electronic applications. In particular, conjugated polymers are favored for flexible electronics due to their mechanical flexibility and potential for solution-processed fabrication techniques, such as blade-coating, roll-to-roll printing, and high-throughput printing allowing for high-performance transistor devices. Thiophene is the prevailing conjugated unit to construct these conjugated polymers due to its favorable electronic properties.

Stakeholder outcome prioritization in the Biologic Abatement and Capturing Kids' Outcomes and Flare Frequency in Juvenile Spondyloarthritis (BACK-OFF JSpA) trial.

Background: The Biologic Abatement and Capturing Kids' Outcomes and Flare Frequency in Juvenile Spondyloarthritis (BACK-OFF JSpA) study is a randomized, pragmatic trial investigating different tumour necrosis factor inhibitor de-escalation strategies for children with sustained inactive disease. In this project, we elicited concept rankings that aided in the selection of the patient-reported outcome (PRO) measures that should be examined as part of the BACK-OFF JSpA trial.

Methods: We conducted a discrete choice experiment to evaluate individuals' preferences regarding PROs.

Designing Simple Conjugated Polymers for Scalable and Efficient Organic Solar Cells.

Conjugated polymers have a long history of exploration and use in organic solar cells, and over the last twenty-five years, marked increases in the solar cell efficiency have been achieved. However, the synthetic complexity of these materials has also drastically increased, which makes the scalability of the highest-efficiency materials difficult. If conjugated polymers could be designed to exhibit both high efficiency and straightforward synthesis, the road to commercial reality would be more achievable.

Introducing an α-Keto Ester Functional Group through Pt-Catalyzed Direct C-H Acylation with Ethyl Chlorooxoacetate.

Platinum-catalyzed selective C-H acylation of 2-aryloxypyridines with ethyl chlorooxoacetate provides an efficient way of introducing an α-keto ester functional group. The reaction is oxidant-free, additive-free, and, more significantly, free of any decarbonylative side reactions. The reaction tolerates a variety of substituents from strongly electron-donating to strongly electron-withdrawing groups.