PREPARATION OF LANGMUIR-BLODGETT MULTILAYERS WITH DIFFERENTLY SUBSTITUTED POLY(3-ALKYLTHIOPHENES)

It has been reported (I. Watanabe, K. Hong and M. F. Rubner, Langmuir, 6 (1990) 1164) that polyalkylthiophenes are not suitable for multilay er formation owing to the lack of a suitable interaction with the wate r surface. Therefore it seems that, in order to obtain polymers useful for the preparation of multilayers, this class of polymer should be s ubjected to chemical modifications that improve the polarity of the ma cromolecule. We have mainly modified the side chain of the polymers by introducing an oxygen atom in different positions on the alkyl side c hain. This modification has the advantage that the polyenic backbone i s unperturbed by the change in chemical structure. The aim of this wor k is to report on some data concerning the preparation and the charact erization of Langmuir-Blodgett multilayers prepared with this new clas s of polymer.