Various synthetic methods have been developed for the syntheses of fused thiophenes, which are overviewed. As such compounds are particularly important for organic material chemistry, their applications in electronics and optoelectronics such as thin film transistors (OTFTs), light emitting diodes (OLED), photovoltaic, energy storage, electrochromic devices and sensors are summarized.

Turan Ozturk received his PhD degree from the University of East Anglia, England, then, moved to the University of Kent at Canterbury, England, as a postdoctoral fellow, where he developed a new method for the synthesis of fused 1,4-dithiin and thiophene rings from 1,8-diketones using Lawesseon’s reagent and P4S10. He took up a position at TUBITAK MRC, Turkey, then Middle East Technical University, Turkey, and joined Istanbul Technical University as a full professor. He has previously been British Council Research Fellow, NATO Research Fellow and Honorary Lecturer at the University of Kent at Canterbury and Senior Research Fellow at University of Waterloo, Canada. His research interests concentrate on the development of new organic materials having electronic and optical properties.