Living polymerization via anionic initiation for the synthesis of well-defined PPV materials

Inge Cosemans, Jimmy Wouters, Thomas Cleij, Laurence Lutsen, Wouter Maes, Thomas Junkers, Dirk Vanderzande

Research output: Contribution to journalArticleResearchpeer-review

14 Citations (Scopus)

Abstract

The anionic polymerization of PPV via the sulfinyl precursor route is further investigated. When LHMDS is employed as the base to form the actively propagating quinodimethane system and THF as the solvent, anionic polymerizations can be observed. With the use of tert- butyl-substituted anionic initiators, specific functional groups can be built in the polymer chain and the chain length can be efficiently controlled, which is demonstrated here for the first time. With introduction of branched side chains on the aromatic core, soluble conjugated PPV material can be obtained with molecular weights in the range of 5000-16 000 g mol -1.

Original languageEnglish
Pages (from-to)242-247
Number of pages6
JournalMacromolecular Rapid Communications
Volume33
Issue number3
DOIs
Publication statusPublished - 13 Feb 2012
Externally publishedYes

Keywords

  • Anionic initiators
  • anionic polymerization
  • living polymerization
  • poly(p-phenylene vinylene)
  • sulfinyl precursor route

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