Noncovalent conformational locks in organic semiconductors

Highly planar conformation is considered to be one of the most important properties for high performance organic semiconductors. Among all kinds strategies for designing highly performing materials, noncovalent conformational locks (NCLs) have been widely used to increase the planarity and rigidity for π-conjugated systems. This review summarizes π-conjugated small molecules and polymers by employing various NCLs for controlling molecular conformation in the past two years. The optoelectronic properties of the conjugated materials, together with their applications on organic field-effect transistors (OFETs) and organic photovoltaics (OPVs) are discussed. Besides, the outlook and challenges in this field are also presented. It is obvious that NCLs play an important role in the design and synthesis of high-performance organic semiconductors.