The Direct Arylation Polymerization (DArP) of Well-Defined Alternating Copolymers Based On 5,6-Dicyano[2,1,3]benzothiadiazole (DCBT)

Alternating donor-acceptor copolymers are important materials with readily tunable optical and electronic properties. Direct arylation polymerization (DArP) is emerging as an attractive synthetic methodology for the synthesis of these polymers, avoiding the use of prefunctionalized building blocks. However, challenges remain in achieving well-defined structure, high molecular weight, and impurity-free polymers. Herein, a study to synthesize three well-defined donor-acceptor copolymers through DArP is present ed. Comparison of H-1 NMR and C-13 NMR, as well as optical and electrochemical properties analysis for the polymers and corresponding oligomers provides evidence for the regioregular structure of the polymers. On the basis of the chemical structure of poly(IIDCBT) and the solution electrochemical studies we surmised poly(IIDCBT) could potentially be an electron transport material for organic field-effect transistors (OFETs), and we determined an electron mobility of 1.2 x 10(3) CM(2)V(-1)s(-1) for this material.