Modulating the Properties of Azulene-Containing Polymers through Controlled Incorporation of Regioisomers.
- Resource Type
- Article
- Authors
- Tsurui, Kazuhiko; Murai, Masahito; Ku, Sung‐Yu; Hawker, Craig J.; Robb, Maxwell J.
- Source
- Advanced Functional Materials. Dec2014, Vol. 24 Issue 46, p7338-7347. 10p.
- Subject
- *AZULENE
*POLYMERIZATION
*CHAIN scission
*PHOTOVOLTAIC power generation
*NUCLEAR magnetic resonance spectroscopy
- Language
- ISSN
- 1616-301X
Two libraries of random conjugated polymers are presented that incorporate varying ratios of regioisomeric azulene units connected via the 5-membered or 7-membered ring in combination with bithiophene or fluorene comonomers. It is demonstrated that the optoelectronic and stimuli-responsive properties of the materials can be systematically modulated by tuning the relative percentage of each azulene building block in the polymer backbone. Significantly, these materials exhibit stimuli-responsive behavior in the solid state with spin-coated thin films undergoing rapid and reversible color switching. Ultimately, this work introduces a new design strategy in which the optoelectronic properties of conjugated polymers can be modulated by varying only the regiochemistry of the constituent building blocks along a polymer chain. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]