A green chemical method for synthesis of bromine-containing “building blocks” for the production of photovoltaic polymers

Abstract

Bromine-containing derivatives of aromatic and heteroaromatic compounds are the most important "building blocks" in the assembly of modern Photovoltaic Polymers (PV). While PV is being developed to produce "green" energy, converting sunlight to electricity, the reactions for producing brominated derivatives of building blocks described in the literature are examples of obsolete and environmentally dirty technologies. More environmentally harmful than bromination with molecular bromine [1] can only be bromination by molecular bromine in a concentrated hydrobromic acid medium [2]. Using 1,1'-diphenyl (1), 9H-diphenylcarbazole (2) and thiophene (3) as examples, we successfully tested the bromination of the above objects with a mixture of potassium bromide and bromate in acetic acid as outlined in the diagram.