Chemical Modifications of BDH-TTP [2,5-Bis(1,3-dithiolan-2-ylidene)-1,3,4,6-tetrathiapentalene]: Control of Electron Correlation

Organic molecular conductors with a strongly correlated electron system, in which the itinerancy of electrons (or holes) and the electron correlation (U/W, U, the on-site Coulomb repulsion, W, the bandwidth) compete with each other, are promising candidates for achieving superconductivity and also for exploring remarkable physical properties induced by external stimuli such as pressure, light, voltage and current. Our synthetic approach to the construction of strongly correlated organic electron systems is based on chemical modifications to the donor molecule BDH-TTP [2,5-bis(1,3-dithiolan-2-ylidene)-1,3,4,6-tetrathiapentalene] capable of producing metallic CT (charge-transfer) salts stable down to low temperatures (4.2–1.5 K). This aims at enhancing the electron correlation in the itinerant electron system by decreasing the bandwidth. Chemical modifications of BDH-TTP such as ring expansion of two outer dithiolane rings, replacement of one sulfur atom in an outer dithiolane ring with an oxygen atom and introduction of two methyl substituents into an outer ditiolane ring led to BDA-TTP [2,5-bis(1,3-dithian-2-ylidene)-1,3,4,6-tetrathiapentalene], DHOT-TTP [2-(1,3-dithiolan-2-ylidene)-5-(1,3-oxathiolan-2-ylidene)-1,3,4,6-tetrathiapentalene] and DMDH-TTP [2-(4,5-dimethyl-1,3-dithiolan-2-ylidene)-5-(1,3-dithiolan-2-ylidene)-1,3,4,6-tetrathiapentalene], respectively. In this review, the physical properties and the crystal and electronic structures of molecular conductors derived from these donor molecules will be described.