Pentacene (1) is a polyaromatic hydrocarbon consisting of five linearly condensed benzene rings. 1 has attracted much attention as an electronic devices materials in recent years, especially, in the field of p-type semiconductor research. Correspondingly, C₆₀ is known as an n-type semiconductor, and both of it and 1 have been actively studied as a transistor consisting only of organic and molecular substance. 1 for use in such applications must be of extremely high purity. TCI offers 1 purified to a suitable standard by recrystallization and sublimation.

Additionally, Takimiya et al. have developed 2,7-diphenyl[1]benzothieno[3,2-b][1]benzothiophene (2) which includes chalcogen atoms in a molecule. They prepared thin film devices using 2 on silicon substrates by vacuum deposition, and measured their semiconducting properties (Fig.1). According to their results, the field-effect mobility of the device is very high (0.19-2.0cm²/Vs), and indicates a high value comparable as pentacene (0.5-3.0cm²/Vs). Moreover, the on-off current ratios were as high as 107, and the semiconducting properties were maintained for over 100 days.
It is expected that these types of organic semiconducting materials will significantly advance the field of electronic devices applied research.