SYNTHESIS, STUDY, AND APPLICATIONS OF POLYMERIC N-HETEROCYCLIC CARBENES

Abstract

A brief review of our work on orthogonally-positioned NHC metallopolymers is highlighted herein. Some pertinent literature is presented, followed by the synthetic strategy employed as well as comprehensive electrochemical analyses. Derivatization of a suitable diimine into a electropolymerizable gold (I) NHC complex resulted in the first orthogonally-positioned NHC metallopolymer. Extension of this methodology to prepare analogous group 11, iridium and sulfur-substituted metallopolymers generated thin films with electrochromic activity that could be tuned by proper selection of the metal center.

Keywords:

• electrochromism
• electropolymerization
• metallopolymer
• N-heterocyclic carbene

Abbreviations:

• tetrahydrothiophene (tht)
• X-ray photoelectron spectroscopy (XPS)
• saturated calomel electrode (SCE)
• decamethylferrocene (Fc*)