PROCESSIBLE POLYANILINE COMPLEXES DUE TO MOLECULAR RECOGNITION - SUPRAMOLECULAR STRUCTURES BASED ON HYDROGEN-BONDING AND PHENYL STACKING

We show that sulphonic acid doped polyaniline (PANI) can be plasticize d using certain low-acidic organic compounds consisting of ring struct ures and hydrogen bonding moieties that are able to ''recognize'' the complementary moieties of the doped PANI. The achieved synergistic com bination of interactions consists of phenyl stacking, hydrogen bonding and charge transfer due to protonation. Fusible electrically conducti ng supramolecular structures are rendered, as suggested also by quantu m chemical calculations. For example, PANI doped by methanesulphonic a cid, toluenesulp onic acid, dodecylbenzenesulphonic acid, or camphorsu lphonic acid can be plasticized by dihydroxybenzenes and bisphenols to obtain fusible particle-free films at the resolution of optical micro scope. The generalization to other plasticizers and other aromatic pol ymers, such as polypyrrole, is obvious.