Thiazolo[5,4-d]thiazole-based compounds: emerging targets in material science, organic electron ics and photovoltaics

Thiazolo[5,4-d]thiazoles are fused bicyclic heteroaromatic compounds characterized by a rigid planar backbone and an extended ?-conjugated electronic structure. Although they have been known for many decades, interest in their properties and applications has increased only recently, following their incorporation into a series of active materials used in the field of organic electronics. Despite the growing attention surrounding these heterocycles, the synthetic chemistry of thiazolo[5,4-d]thiazoles is not yet fully developed: improvements in both their preparation and subsequent elaboration are still required in order to extend the materials scope and optimize their properties. This chapter will present an overview of the currently available synthetic methods, the properties of the compounds prepared to date and their main applications, focusing in particular on organic (opto)electronics and new generation photovoltaics