pi-Conjugated organosilanes at the nexus of single-molecule electronics and imaging

The incorporation of silicon as a heteroatom dopant in pi-conjugated organic molecules and materials gives rise to emergent electronic and photophysical properties that have been exploited across bioimaging, sensing, optoelectronic, energy harvesting, and charge transport applications. The desirable properties of pi-conjugated organosilanes originate from key orbital-level interactions that occur between the pi-conjugated arene and sigma-conjugated silane fragments. This perspective article focuses on the nature of the sigma-pi interaction in organosilane molecular materials and how it physically manifests in emerging single-molecule technologies such as single-molecule electronics and single-molecule biological imaging.