A red, crystalline, polyaromatic hydrocarbon with semiconductor properties, used as a source of light in LEDs and light sticks.
Systematic name: 5,6,11,12-tetraphenylnaphthacene; C42H28. The rubrene molecule contains four benzene rings attached symmetrically to a nucleus of four more benzene rings fused in a linear arrangement..
Origin
1920s; earliest use found in Chemical Abstracts. From French rubrène from classical Latin rubr-, ruber red + French -ène.