DIRECT AROMATIC FLUOROALKYLATIONS OF POLY(P-PHENYLENE) WITH FLUOROALKANOYL PEROXIDES, AN APPROACH TO HIGHLY SOLUBLE FLUORINATED CONDUCTING POLYMERS

Direct aromatic fluoroalkylations of poly(p-phenylene) (PPP) using flu oroalkanoyl peroxides were found to give excellent to moderate fluoroa lkylated ratios even in heterogeneous systems. The fluoroalkylated pro ducts (PPP-R-F) were shown to possess dramatically higher solubilities than parent PPP, and the improvement in the solubility enabled measur ements of the molecular weights of PPP-R-F to be made by gel permeatio n chromatography analyses, Perfluoropropylated PPP formed a monomolecu lar film at the air-water interface. This deposited film was found to conduct electricity, and its electric conductivity was comparable with the conductivities of similar films formed from other compounds of po tential interest in this field. (C) 1997 Elsevier Science S.A. All rig hts reserved.