Alkyl-substituted polysilylenes

Kepler et al. (1983, 1984, 1987) measured hole mobilities of poly(methyl-phenylsilylene) (PMPS). The mobilities were field dependent and thermally activated with an activation energy of 0.24 eV. The transport was nondispersive at room temperature. With decreasing temperature, however, the transients become increasingly dispersive. Because the same mobility was observed in a wide range of alkyl-substituted polysilylenes, Kepler et al. argued that hole transport occurs through the conjugated states of the chain backbone. 

Unsymmetrical Alkyl-Substituted Polysilylenes A detailed comparison of theoretical predictions and experimental results for the atactic polysil-ylenes is more diflScult for several reasons (1) the observed transitions are much broader, (2) the effects of random substitutional disorder are not included in the theory, and (3) the magnitudes of the consequences of stereochemical disorder are expected to vary for different atactic polymers. Nevertheless, for all the asymmetrically substituted polysilylenes studied, except poly(n-dodecylmethylsilylene), the predictions discussed earlier... 

We have previously suggested (9a, 1 0) a rotational isomeric state model to explain the solution thermochromism exhibited by the un-branched alkyl substituted polysilylenes. This model treats the absorption spectrum as a superposition of the spectra of Isolated... 

Soluble disubstituted polysilylenes are a class of polymers that recently has generated great interest. These polymers have the structure [-SiRR -] , in which R and R may be aryl or alkyl groups and R may be the same as R. The substituted polysilylenes exhibit a wide variety of physical properties, depending on the nature of R and R. Of particular interest is their intense UV absorption at 300-400 nm both in solution and in the solid state, a property conferred by the silicon backbone and accompanied... 

Order-disorder, or rod-to-coil , transitions in dilute solution have been reported for polydiacetylenes (2, 5-11), polysilylenes (12-15), and alkyl-substituted polythiophenes (16). The interpretation of the experimental observations has been the subject of considerable controversy with respect to whether the observations represent a single-polymer-molecule phenomenon or a many-chain aggregation or precipitation process (3-16). Our own experimental evidence (12, 13) and that of others (5-8, 10, 16) weigh heavily in favor of the single-chain interpretation. In our theoretical interpretation, we will assume that the order-disorder transitions observed in dilute pol-ysilylene solutions represent equilibrium, single-chain phenomena. 

Polysilanes (or polysilylenes) consist of a silicon-catenated backbone with two substituents on each silicon atom (Structure 1). The groups R and R attached to the silicon chain can be of a large variety. Polysilanes with alkyl and/or aryl substituents have been the most thoroughly investigated [1-3], whereas polysilanes having at least a heteroatom substitution such as H, Cl, OR, NR2 have received much less attention [4]. The number of silicon atoms is usually from several hundreds to several thousands. 

Relationship to Electronic Properties. As a result of the close connection between bond conformation and electronic properties (4), the analysis of chain conformation in the polysilylenes has been of interest to researchers in this field, both from the experimental and theoretical viewpoints. As reported by Trefonas et al. (5), most asymmetrically substituted alkyl polysilylenes in solution at room temperature display an electronic absorption with ranging from 303 to 309 nm. The variable-temperature absorption spectrum of PMHS is shown in Figure 4 (4). At room temperature, max is 308 nm, and as the solution is cooled, there is a continuous red shift with the X x reaching 328 nm at -95 °C. Some workers 4, 6) suggest that this observation is a reflection of an increasing population of trans rotational states in the silicon backbone as the temperature is lowered. This suggestion is supported by the finding that these spectra can be adequately modeled by a rotational isomeric-state treatment (4). 

The structure of polysilylenes has also been explored with H, and NMR methods. " The studies indicate that polysilylene chain configurations in solution are varied and quite complex for a wide range of asymmetrically substituted homopolymers and copolymers. Thus, at high field (500 MHz) the alkyl protons in poly(methyl-n-hexylsilylene) are well resolved and assigned using 2D spectra. The spectra provide information about the microstructure and the Si spectra appear sensitive to stereochemical configuration at least to the pentad level. 

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