The present invention describes
organic solvent-soluble Diels-
Alder adducts of polycyclic aromatic compounds, such as, oligothiophene,
perylene, benzo[ghi]
perylene,
coronene and polyacenes, with variety of dienophiles containing at least one
heteroatom and in some cases two heteroatoms bonded to
aromatic moiety, such as, thioxomalonates, azodicarboxylates, thialdehyde, acylnitroso and N-sulfinylamides. The Diels-
Alder adducts are prepared by a simple, one step
cycloaddition reaction of the polycyclic aromatic compounds, such as,
pentacene, or other fused aromatic compounds, with heterodienophiles. The Diels-
Alder adducts according to the present invention all form soluble adducts with
pentacene and can be converted back to
pentacene by retro-Diels-Alder reaction at moderate (60–250° C.) temperatures both in bulk, in solution or as thin-films.