MACROMOLECULAR TETRATHIAFULVALENE CHEMISTRY

Recent developments in the functionalisation of tetrathiafulvalene (TT F) have enabled TTF units to be covalently linked into macromolecular systems. Convergent syntheses of dendrimers containing TTF units are p resented, including a (TTF)(13) system in which TTF units are emplaced at all layers of the structural hierarchy, Thin layer cyclic voltamme try has established that the redox activity of TTF is retained in thes e macromolecules: sequential oxidation to the radical cation and dicat ion occurs for all the TTF units, yielding highly-charged species in s olution. Macromolecules comprising four and eight TTF units built arou nd a phthalocyanine core are also described. These materials present n ovel architectures with the key property of multielectron redox activi ty.