Novel heteroarylene polyazomethines: their syntheses and characterizations

Abstract

Novel thiophene or furan-containing polyazomethines were synthesized by chemical oxidative polymerization with ferric(III) chloride. The structures of the undoped and doped polymers were evaluated by FTi.r., elemental analysis, u.v.—vis spectrometry, X-ray photoelectron spectroscopy (XPS) and their thermal stability determined using thermogravimetric analysis (t.g.a.). The conductivities of the undoped polymers were less than 10 −8 S cm −1, while those of the doped ones were in the range of 10 −7 to 10 −6 S cm −1. The low conductivity values were attributed to the low degree of conjugation in the polymers caused by non-planarity of the polymer chains. The thiophene-containing polymers underwent sulfur extrusion during polymerization, resulting in an interruption of conjugation in the polymer backbone with consequent diminished electrical conductivity.