Key trends in sustainable approaches to the synthesis of semiconducting polymers

The research area of organic electronics has grown exponentially since the understanding that π-conjugated polymers can be successfully implemented in several electronic devices, including organic light-emitting diodes (OLEDs), organic field effect transistors (OFETs), sensors, integrated circuits, solar energy storage, organic photovoltaic cells (OPVs), and RF-ID tags (Lee et al., 2017; Huang et al., 2017; Dou et al., 2015; Guo et al., 2013; Marrocchi et al., 2012). To date, most of the efforts focused on the development of new semiconductor structures, the main challenge being to enable organic electronic devices with optimal performance. On the other hand, only a limited emphasis has been placed on the synthetic methodology employed in and environmental impact associated with their synthesis. These problems include toxicity of the synthetic reagents, catalysts, and by-products to humans, animals, and plants, electrical energy for their production, and transfer from laboratory to large scale production.