Development of Processible Electroactive Oligomers and Polymers

摘要

The objective of this research program has been the development of new materialswith enhanced nonlinear optical activity and the exploration of related properties such as electrical conductivity. Initial research efforts focused upon pi-electron materials (polyenes and heteroaromatic polymers) and synthetic routes for overcoming the inherent insolubility of these materials. By steadily improving solubility and processability through utilization of derivation and precursor routes, we have been able to fabricate optical quality films of ladder-type polymers and achieve high resolution characterization of these materials both in terms of structure and electroactive properties. Electroactive molecules including fused ring (ladder oligomers) dyes, squarylium-heterocyclic moieties, phenylpolyenes, thienylpolyenes, carbocyanine dyes, and tetraazaannulenes have also been synthetically incorporated into a variety of traditional polymers both as pendants and as part of the polymer backbone.