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Electronic Materials
Chemistry In Pictures
Chemistry in Pictures: Ruby shards
by Brianna Barbu
June 5, 2025
Credit: John McMurtrie
Sometimes, the best thing you can do when you’re trying to crystallize a molecule is forget about it for a couple of months. That’s what Queensland University of Technology PhD student Rajesh Kothandaraman did to make these brilliant red crystals. When he finally remembered to check on them, he says, they looked so pretty he immediately showed his lab mates. Kothandaraman is working with professor Prashant Sonar to develop new semiconducting molecules for organic field-effect transistors. The crystals shown here are made of a derivative of diketopyrrolopyrrole, a well-known organic semiconductor material, attached to two other molecular units: another conjugated organic molecule called fluoranthene and a 10-carbon-long alkyl chain.
Submitted by Rajesh Kothandaraman
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CORRECTION:
This story was updated on June 10, 2025, to correct the name of Rajesh Kothandaraman's PhD adviser. His adviser is Prashant Sonar, not John McMurtrie.
Chemical & Engineering News
ISSN 0009-2347
Copyright © 2025 American Chemical Society
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