Synthesis of functionalized thiophene/phenyl co-oli gomers by direct arylation of thiophenes

π-Conjugated rod-like molecules have proven to be powerful candidates for the generation of well-defined nanostructures with interesting optica l and optoelectrical properties. Their synthesis, however, turns out to be rather complex in some cases. Here, we have optimized the synthesis of oligomers consisting of thiophene and phenylene groups with three or four aromatic units using a direct arylation approach, which allo ws us to use cheap starting materials and to minimize the number of reaction steps considerably.