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Polythiophene‐ graft ‐Styrene and Polythiophene‐ graft ‐(Styrene‐ graft ‐C 60 ) Copolymers
Author(s) -
Chen Xiwen,
Gholamkhass Bobak,
Han Xu,
Vamvounis George,
Holdcroft Steven
Publication year - 2007
Publication title -
macromolecular rapid communications
Language(s) - English
Resource type - Journals
SCImago Journal Rank - 1.348
H-Index - 154
eISSN - 1521-3927
pISSN - 1022-1336
DOI - 10.1002/marc.200700292
Subject(s) - polythiophene , copolymer , styrene , polymer chemistry , materials science , polymer , nitroxide mediated radical polymerization , polymerization , suzuki reaction , delocalized electron , radical polymerization , conductive polymer , chemistry , organic chemistry , composite material , palladium , catalysis
Poly(3‐hexylthiophene) was quantitatively brominated and subsequently used in the Suzuki cross‐coupling with a boronic ester of a nitroxide to form a macroinitiator bearing a TEMPO group on each thienyl ring. This macroinitiator initiated the nitroxide‐mediated radical polymerization of styrene and 4‐chloromethylstyrene (CMS), and subsequently reacted with C 60 to yield soluble graft, rod‐coil polymers. Films of the polymers display a bi‐continuous phase structure as revealed by AFM. Similar polymers, in which only a fraction of the thienyl units boasted C 60 ‐bearing side chains, displayed optical properties representative of extensive π ‐delocalization. The potential application of this methodology for the synthesis of graft polymers for photovoltaic devices is discussed.