CHARGING MECHANISMS OF EXTENDED PI-SYSTEMS - A CYCLOVOLTAMMETRIC APPROACH TO THE CLASSIFICATION OF REDOX POLYMERS AND CONDUCTING POLYMERS

Conductivity and charge-storage capacity of conjugated polymers are significant properties with respect to applications of these materials. The actual macromolecules are not the appropriate objects to investigate in order to gain a deeper understanding of the charging mechanisms of electroactive polymers. Therefore, we turned to the synthesis of structurally defined soluble oligomers, which differ in the nature of the building blocks and in the mode of linkage, as models for electroactive polymers. The title systems 1-15 were investigated by cyclic voltammetry in solution. Information can be gained on the relationship between the structure and electronic properties, which in turn can be extrapolated towards the corresponding polymers. A general division into two categories, conducting polymers and redox polymers, can be made; borderline cases arise, however, if the conjugative interaction of the electroactive building blocks suffers from severe steric hindrance.