In recent years, variously substituted derivatives of poly(l,4-phenylene vi
nylene)s have emerged as efficient candidates for the emissive layer in pol
ymer light emitting diodes. The synthetic routes for these polymers divide
between precursor routes and those leading to fully conjugated solvent-proc
essible polymers. The Gilch dehydrohalogenation polycondensation has largel
y been used for the latter class. In this presentation, we describe a novel
family of 2,3-disubstituted aromatic precursors, derived from catechol, an
d we report their efficient polymerisation as homo- and copolymers with, fo
r example, silyl-substituted derivatives to give materials which are highly
fluorescent and serve as interesting materials in polymer LET,s. (C) 2001
Published by Elsevier Science B.V.