We have synthesized two kinds of soluble poly(thienylenevinylene) deri
vatives with hexyl groups. As a precursor common to these polymers, 1,
2-trans-bis(3-hexylthiophene-2-yl)ethylene (BHTE) was synthesized. Two
polymerization methods of Grignard coupling and chemical oxidative co
upling were employed. The former gave a soluble polymer with a thienyl
ene-vinylene (TV) sequence in main chain and the cast film of the poly
mer showed an electrical conductivity of 0.4 S/cm upon an iodine dopin
g;The latter gave a soluble polymer with a TVT sequence. Casting the p
olymer gave a free-standing film with a conductivity of 8.7 S/cm after
the iodine doping.