Electrochemical and optical properties of substituted phthalimide based monomers and electrochemical polymerization of 3,4-ethylenedioxythiophene-polyhedral oligomeric silsesquioxane (POSS) analogue

Abstract

A new series of donor-acceptor-donor type trimeric monomers bearing substituted phthalimide units as acceptor units and thiophene and 3,4-ethylenedioxythiophene (EDOT) as donor units was synthesized and characterized. The strength of acceptor units and intramolecular charge transfer between donor and acceptor units were investigated by using electrochemical and optical methods. The main advantage of phthalimide unit over other acceptor units is the ease of its functionalizability. Thus, utilizing this property, a phthalimide derivative (E2P-POSS) bearing polyhedral oligomeric silsesquioxane (POSS) cage was introduced successfully with EDOT and polymerized electrochemically. The corresponding electroactive polymer, PE2P-POSS, has a band gap of 1.72 eV and is an electrochromic polymer: gray when neutralized and eggplant purple when oxidized.