SYNTHESIS AND PROCESSING OF HETEROCYCLIC POLYMERS AS ELECTRONIC, OPTOELECTRONIC, AND NONLINEAR-OPTICAL MATERIALS .3. NEW CONJUGATED POLYQUINOLINES WITH ELECTRON-DONOR OR ELECTRON-ACCEPTOR SIDE GROUPS

We report the synthesis, characterization, and preparation of thin films and optical properties of five new polymers containing electron-donor or -acceptor side groups in the class of conjugated polyquinolines. It is found that the electronic structure and linear optical properties of the new phenylated polyquinolines with or without methoxy or fluoro substitutions on the phenyl side group were very similar: a lambda(max) of about 450 nm and a bandgap of approximately 2.36 eV. The absence of any significant effect of the donor or acceptor side group on the intrinsic electronic and optical properties of the phenylated polyquinolines is explained by the dominant conformational effects of the bulky side group on the pi-electron delocalization. The new conjugated polyquinolines with donor or acceptor side-group substituents, by virtue of their asymmetric structure, may prove to be interesting electronic, optoelectronic, and nonlinear optical materials.