A FRONTIER ORBITAL APPROACH TO THE MECHAN ISM OF ELECTROPOLYMERIZATION OF 5-AMINO-2-NAPHTHOL

Frontier orbital model is used to study the growth of poly(5-amino-2-n aphthol) prepared by electrochemical synthesis. We show that the dimer ization step is not regiospecific and that two dimers are formed: a C- C dimer and a C-N dimer. The following coupling steps are of C-N type leading to a poly(aniline) like structure material which is in agreeme nt with the structure proposed on the basis of experimental observatio ns. The model seems therefore adequat to simulate the growth of poly(5 -amino-2-naphtol) and could be proposed as a useful tool for structura l prediction of electrosynthesized polymers.