A new precursor to electroconducting conjugated polymers: synthesis and opto-electrical properties of luminescent devices based on these PPV derivatives

A variety of novel conjugated PPV-related polymers have been synthesised using a synthetic approach that allows the tailoring of the chemical structure of the polymer backbone. In this way we have been able to prepare not only poly(p-phenylene vinylene) (PPV) (1), but also some electron-rich PPV derivatives such as poly(2,5-dimethyl-1,4-phenylene vinylene) (PDMetPV) (2) and poly(2,5-dimethoxy-1,4-phenylene vinylene) (PDMeoPV) (3) and PPV derivatives with an enlarged aromatic system, poly(4,4′-bisphenylene vinylene) (PBPV) (4) and poly(2,6-naphtaln vinylene) (PNV) (5). These materials were characterised in terms of molecular weight (GPC), elimination temperature (TGA, FT-IR), optical properties (UV-VIS), photoluminescence (PL) and device characteristics of the LEDs.