 Most Bechgaard salt superconductors are extremely low temperature, and lose superconductivity above the 1–2 K range, although the most successful compound in this class superconducts up to almost 12 K.

All Bechgaard salts are formed using a small, planar organic molecule as an electron donor, with any of a number of electron acceptors [such as perchlorate (ClO4) or tetracyanoethylene (TCNE)].All the organic electron donors contain multiply conjugated heterocycles with a number of properties, including planarity, low ionization potential and good orbital overlap between heteroatoms in neighboring donor molecules.These properties help the final salt conduct electrons by shuttling them through the orbital vacancies left in the donor molecules.