Nucleobase appended viologens: Building blocks for new optoelectronic materials

•New bifunctional 4,4′-bipyridinium core and nucleobases as capping groups compounds.•Charge transfer interaction with impact on the optical and electrochemical properties.•Supramolecular aggregates of viologen-nucleobase derivatives with ssDNA/ssPNA template.

We describe here the fabrication, characterization and possible applications of a new type of optical material – consisting of 4,4′-bipyridinium core (“viologen”) and nucleobases i.e. adenine and/or thymine made by H-bonding. The viologen–nucleobase derivatives were used to construct supramolecular structures in a “biomimetic way” with complementary oligonucleotides (ssDNA) and peptide nucleic acids (ssPNA) as templates. The new nanostructured materials are expected to exhibit enhanced optical and optoelectronic properties with application in the field of supramolecular electronics. Such viologen derivatives could be significant in the design of new 2D and 3D materials with potentially application in optoelectronics, molecular electronics or sensoric.

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