The common molecular structure in anthocyanins is the flavylium ion which imparts color to plants and fruits. The flavylium ion is also responsible for capturing photons from sunlight. This ability has been used to build dye-sensitized solar cells (DSSCs) using fruit extracts which are rich in natural flavylium ions (anthocyanins). Although fruit extracts can be use to generate DSSCs, the power output in these DSSCs is low. It is unclear if this low power is due to other components present in the fruit extracts or due to the molecular structure of the anthocyanins. To systematically investigate what structural features affect the efficiency in DSSCs we are developing practical synthetic approaches to flavylium ion derivatives. The synthetic approach described here utilizes the arylation of acetophenones to synthesize key intermediates needed for the flavylium ion. The key intermediates are then converted to flavylium ions via a condensation reaction with trihydroxybenzaldehyde.

Synthesis of flavylium ion derivatives for dye-sensitized solar cells

239th National Meeting (2010)

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