M. Woodruff, ENHANCED CHAIN ORDER AND DEPENDENCE OF THE LINEAR ABSORPTION OF POLY(P-PHENYLENEVINYLENE) ON THE SOLUTION ENVIRONMENT OF ITS PRECURSOR POLYMER, Synthetic metals, 80(3), 1996, pp. 257-261
A large change in the linear absorption spectrum of poly(p-phenylenevi
nylene) (PPV) occurs when it is prepared from freshly synthesized and
undialysed poly( sulfonium chloride) salt. The red shift of the linear
absorption maximum of the PPV is 30-50 nm compared to that obtained f
rom dialysed prepolymer. Subsequent changes in the chain order, as mon
itored by the changes in the linear absorption spectrum of the convert
ed PPV, have been investigated as a function of solvent, time and temp
erature. The use of water in the polysulfonium ion synthesis is critic
al for the attainment of high chain order. Water was also found to be
better than methanol in preserving the chemical and conformational int
egrity of the precursor salts. The observed effects of water have been
attributed to its high ionizing and solvating ability, and a lower nu
cleophilicity compared to methanol.