Donor-acceptor (D-A) conjugated polymers are usually prepared via well-established step-growth polymerization protocols which only allow limited control over the polymerization. Here we demonstrate Kumada chain growth polymerization to yield a poly(D-A) conjugated polymer (D = thiophene, A= N-alkyl benzotriazole, PTTAZ) with low dispersities (1.1 – 1.3) and number aver-age molecular weight values in the range of 13-25 kg/mol using Ni(dppe)Cl2 and Ni(diimine)Br2 as catalysts. The first-order kinetics of the polymerization, together with the successful synthesis of a low dispersity diblock polymer, P3HT-b-PTTAZ, (P3HT represents poly(3-hexylthiophene)) provides further evidence for the “quasi-living” chain-growth nature of the polymerization. Interestingly, depending upon the sequence of the diblock, the bulk heterojunction solar cells of these diblock copolymers having identical blocks show very different device characteristics.

Controlled chain-growth Kumada catalyst-transfer polymerization of an alternating donor-acceptor conjugated monomer

254th National Meeting (2017)

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