Synthesis of conjugated polymers bearing pendant bipyridine ruthenium complexes

Conjugated polymers bearing pendant bipyridine groups, PM1PT-x, were synthesized in high yield from a carefully designed dibromocarbazole monomer M1 using a Suzuki coupling reaction with a phenothiazine diborate monomer. PM1PT-x, where x is the mole percentage of M1 in the total feed of dibromo-monomers and varied to levels of 25%, 50%, 75% and 100%, was reacted with a ruthenium complex to yield conjugated polymers bearing pendant bipyridine ruthenium complexes, PM1PT-x-Ru. The introduction of ruthenium complexes extended the absorption of PM1PT-x-Ru to the visible light region. Furthermore, these polymers demonstrated sufficient stability and suitable energy levels to potentially be highly efficient photoactive materials for polymeric solar cells.