Poly(hetero)arylene Vinylenes, Synthesis Via Soluble Precursor Polymers, Characterization, Mechanism and Application: A Review

Poly(arylenevinylene)s are considered to be promising candidates for electrical andlor optical materials. Most of these polymers are neither fusible nor soluble in common solvents, making it difficult to process them into shaped articles. The synthetic procedures have mostly involved the preparation of a precursor poly-mer which is processible, usually in solution, and which can then be converted into the desired poly(arylenevinylene) ; alternatively, these conjugated polymers can be rendered soluble and therefore processible in organic solvents by attaching large lipophilic groups to the arylenevinylene moiety. The precursor route involves produdng a polymer in which the arylene units are connected by ethylene units. The saturated units contain a group which not only solubilizes the macromolecule and allows processing, but which can under suitable condi-tions also act as a leaving group, thus affording the saturated vinylene units of a fully conjugated polymer. In this article the synthesis of poly(hetero)arylene vinylenes via a soluble precursor polymers, characteristics, mechanism of poly