Spectroscopic analysis polyacetylene

Besides synthesis, current basic research on conducting polymers is concentrated on structural analysis. Structural parameters — e.g. regularity and homogeneity of chain structures, but also chain length — play an important role in our understanding of the properties of such materials. Research on electropolymerized polymers has concentrated on polypyrrole and polythiophene in particular and, more recently, on polyaniline as well, while of the chemically produced materials polyacetylene stih attracts greatest interest. Spectroscopic methods have proved particularly suitable for characterizing structural properties These comprise surface techniques such as XPS, AES or ATR, on the one hand, and the usual methods of structural analysis, such as NMR, ESR and X-ray diffraction techniques, on the other hand. 

The cis/trans isomerization of cw-polyacetylene, previously only disclosed from spectroscopic data, has recently been detected by cyclic voltammetry The analysis of the redox data reveals that the trans-form is thermodynamically more favorable in the charged than in neutral state. 

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