Electroactive Hyperbranched Polyamide Synthesized by Oxidative Coupling Polymerization within an A2 + B3 Strategy

Abstract

AbstractUsing an oxidative coupling polymerization of the macromonomers of oligoaniline and p‐phenylenediamine, we have prepared an electroactive hyperbranched polyamide, exhibiting an exciting molecular structure, and interesting spectroscopic and electrochemical properties. The molecular structure of the electroactive polyamide was confirmed by FT‐IR, NMR, elemental analysis and GPC. The hyperbranched polyamide exhibited a conductivity of 7.0 × 10−5 S · cm−1 at room temperature upon a preliminarily protonic‐doped experiment. The UV‐vis spectrum of the synthesized polyamide, which is in the emeraldine oxidation state, showed two bands at 330 and 600 nm, which can be attributed to the transitions in the oligoaniline groups, namely the π‐π* transition in the benzoid ring and the exciton‐type transition between the HOMO orbital of the benzoid ring and the LUMO orbital of the quinoid ring. The electrochemical activity of the hyperbranched polyamide was tested in 1.0 M H2SO4 aqueous solution and showed three redox peaks, which is different from the activity of polyaniline. Moreover, the thermal properties of the polyamide were evaluated by TGA.magnified image