Taming Hot CF3 Radicals: Incrementally Tuned Families of Polyarene Electron Acceptors for Air‐Stable Molecular Optoelectronics

A regioselective, solvent-, and catalyst-free method for the perfluoroalkylation of polycyclic aromatic hydrocarbons (PAHs) with CF3I was used to synthesize air-stable organic electron acceptors (PAH(CF3)n). The gas-phase electron affinities of these compounds correlate to the number of CF3 groups. The number and orientation of the CF3 groups also influenced the π–π stacking and crystalline morphologies of these compounds.