A Solid State Strategy for the Preparation of Carbon-rich Polymers

A Solid State Strategy for the Preparation of Carbon-rich Polymers 

The ultimate carbon rich polymer, with only carbon atoms as the constitutional repeat unit, is often referred to as carbyne. Being an allotrope of carbon, the onedimensional polymer carbyne is analogous to the two-dimensional polymer graphite and the three-dimensional polymer diamond. In contrast to graphite and diamond, there is no general agreement on a material that is carbyne and it remains a controversial as well as confusing topic in the literature [1]. 

The preparation of new polydiacetylenes and polytriacetylenes is complicated by the fact that no one has demonstrated a direct 1,4-diacetylene or a 1,6-triacetylene polymerization in solution, 1,2-polymerizations being more favorable. However, the polymers can be prepared in the solid state as the result of a topochemical polymerization. Topochemical reactions are solid state reactions in which the product and the regio- and stereochemistry of a reaction are directly controlled by the preorganization of the reactants. 

In this report we will focus on the most ideal cases of topochemical polymerizations, transformations of single crystals of a monomer to single crystals of a polymer. Advantages of polymer single crystals are that the polymer chains are highly 

Carbon-Rich Compounds. Edited by Michael M. Haley and Rik R. Tykwinski Copyright 2006 WILEY-VCH Verlag GmbH Co. KGaA, Weinheim ISBN 3-527-31224-2 

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