Polyaniline with omega-hydroxyalkoxy pendant substituent on the meta-position

A series of meta-substituted polyaniline derivatives, poly[3-(omega -hydrox yhexoxy)aniline], poly [3-(omega -hydroxyoctoxy)aniline], poly[3-(omega -hy droxydecoxy)aniline] and poly[3-(omega -hydroxydodecoxy)aniline] have been synthesized via chemical oxidative polymerization. The resulting polymers s how enhanced solubility in organic solvent. The polymerization yield is inc reased and the reaction is accelerated by the addition of aniline. The homo polymers can attain conductivity in the range of 10(-6) to 10(-4) S cm(-1) after protonic doping with HCl. Upon doping oxidatively with iodine, the co nductivity is ca. 10(-5) to 10(-3) S cm(-1). For the copolymers with anilin e (15 mol%), the corresponding conductivity is higher, 10(-5) to 10(-3) S c m(-1) upon HCl doping and 10(-4) to 10(-2) S cm(-1) upon iodine doping. The rmogravimetry (TG) of the polymer depicts two major weight loss steps corre sponding to the degradation of side chain and the thermal breakdown of the backbone, respectively. The polymers are largely amorphous but show an incr ease in crystallinity with increasing pendant chain length. The polymers we re also subjected to FT-IR, UV-VIS and X-ray photoelectron spectroscopy (XP S) studies. (C) 2001 Elsevier Science B.V. All rights reserved.