Benzoxazole is an aromatic organic compound with a molecular formula of C7H5NO, a benzoxazole ring structure, and an odor similar to pyridine. Although benzoxazole itself has little practical value, many benzoxazole derivatives are commercially important. As heterocyclic compounds, benzoxazoles are used in research as starting materials for the synthesis of larger, often biologically active structures. Its aromaticity makes it relatively stable, although as a heterocycle it has an active site that enables it to be functionalized.
The two N atoms in Benzothiadiazole could possibly form intermolecular hydrogen bonding, leading to a more planar backbone. Benzothiadiazole is a strong electron-accepting molecular fragment. By fusing it with thiazole donor-acceptor dyes, near-infrared fluorescence was created. The benzothiadiazole ring is a useful n-type building block for designing electron-transport materials for organic and polymer light-emitting diodes (LEDs). Arene- and heteroarene-fused thiadiazoles have also found use in the design of low-band-gap materials for the construction of organic field-effect transmitters (OFETs), as stable organic radicals, and as one or two photon-absorbing materials for the design of nonlinear near-infrared (NIR) dyes. Benzothiadiazoles acting as the electron-accepting cores have been incorporated into dendrimer-type light-harvesting materials.