Study of the order-disorder transitions in methoxy-functionalized polyalkylthiophenes

This article describes the solvatochromic properties of two polyalkylthiophene (PAT) samples functionalized at the end of the hexamethylenic side-chains with a methoxy group, which is able to strongly enhance the solubility, workability and filmability of this kind of polymers. The latter are obtained using either a regioselective or a regiospecific polymerization procedure, thus leading to a different configurational order in the final polymer. The optical features of the synthesized samples—which are very interesting for chemosensor and electrooptical applications—are observed in many solvent/non-solvent systems and derive from the conformational modification of the conjugated backbone induced by side-chain order-disorder transitions. These transitions strongly depend on the content of HT dyads; a fact which undeniably shows the importance of the polymer configuration, directly deriving from the adopted polymerization method, on the final electrical and electronic properties of the obtained material. The low sensitivity of the regioregular sample towards the temperature changes together with its higher tendency to give thick, semicrystalline and self-consisting films makes it very promising for the obtainment of organic semiconductors for electronic devices subjected to high temperature variations.