Versatile synthesis of various conjugated aromatic homo- and copolymers

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.