Aldol Condensation for the Construction of Organic Functional Materials

Abstract Aldol condensation is a cost‐effective and sustainable synthetic method, offering the advantages of low complexity, substrate universality, and high efficiency. Over the past decade, it has become popular for creating next‐generation organic functional materials, particularly rigid‐rod conjugated (semi)conductors. This review focuses on conjugated small molecules, oligomers, and polymeric (semi)conductors synthesized through aldol condensation, with emphasis on their remarkable features in advancing n‐type organic field‐effect transistors (OFETs), organic electrochemical transistors (OECTs), organic photovoltaics (OPVs), and organic thermoelectrics (OTEs) as well as NIR‐II photothermal conversion. Coherence character, optical properties, microstructure, and chain conformation are investigated to understand material‐property relationships. Future applications and challenges in this area are also discussed.