A biphenyl containing two electron-donating and two electron-accepting moieties: a rigid and small donor-acceptor-donor ladder system.

Ladder π-conjugated materials and also push-pull systems belong to important classes of compounds for the development of organic electronic devices. In this communication, a novel π-conjugated material that unifies the properties of both of these classes is presented. The material comprises a rigid biphenyl framework, which bears two bridging electron-accepting phosphine oxide moieties as well as two electron-donating amino groups. The structure and photophysical properties of this compound are discussed and compared with those of a related system lacking the second P-moiety.