A comparative study of the UV–vis spectroelectrochemical behavior of 2- and 3-methylaniline during homo- and copolymerization with 1,2-diaminobenzene

Abstract

This paper evaluates comparatively the behavior of 2-methylaniline (2-MA) and 3-methylaniline (3-MA) in a UV–vis spectroelectrochemical study of their homo- as well as copolymerization with 1,2-diaminobenzene (1,2-DAB). The homopolymers poly(2-methylaniline) (P2-MA) and poly(3-methylaniline) (P3-MA) show similar spectroelectrochemical properties. However, differences were observed in the properties between the copolymers of 2-MA and 3-MA with 1,2-DAB that could be due to the variation in the monomer units and orientation along the copolymer chains. The formation of head-to-tail coupled p-aminodiphenylamine (PPD) type of mixed dimers/oligomers, presumably resulting from the dimerization of 1,2-DAB and 2-MA or 3-MA cation radicals, is proposed. An absorption peak around λ=497nm in the UV–vis spectra is assigned to these intermediates. A mechanism is proposed for the growth of the copolymers. Characteristic UV–vis features of the copolymers have been identified and their dependencies on the electrode potential are discussed. Clear variations in spectroelectrochemical properties of the materials from mixed solutions can be observed just by varying the concentration of 1,2-DAB and by replacing 3-MA with 2-MA in the feed. One of the possible reason for the difference in the properties of the copolymers of 2-MA and 3-MA might be the effect of the electron-donating methyl group in meta-position resulting in an increased electron density in the second meta-position contributing to meta-coupling of radical cations.