Synthesis of a regular polymer containing pseudo-polyether cages

A new compound consisting of 2-thienyl units linked by polyether bridge has been synthesized and its electrochemical polymerization was performed via constant potential electrolysis (CPE) in an electrolytic solution containing 0.1 M tetrabutylammonium hexafluorophosphate (TBAPF6) dissolved in CH3CN. Chemical polymerization was carried out using FeCl3 as oxidizing agent. It is found that both methods gave the same polymer product without any cleavage of the polyether bridge between thiophene (Th) rings. Although as synthesized polymers exhibited no conductivity, they gain conductivity via chemical doping using I2 vapor exposure. The polymers were characterized using FT-IR spectroscopic technique and I2 doping was monitored using in-situ electron spin resonance (ESR) spectroscopy. Thermal behavior of electrochemically prepared polymer was investigated using differential scanning calorimetry, DSC and thermogravimetric analysis, TGA.