Photoinduced Step-Growth Polymerization of N-Ethylcarbazole

Erdem Sari; Gorkem Yilmaz; Sermet Koyuncu; Yusuf Yagci

doi:10.1021/jacs.8b08668

Photoinduced Step-Growth Polymerization of N-Ethylcarbazole

J Am Chem Soc. 2018 Oct 10;140(40):12728-12731. doi: 10.1021/jacs.8b08668. Epub 2018 Oct 1.

Authors

Erdem Sari¹, Gorkem Yilmaz¹, Sermet Koyuncu², Yusuf Yagci¹

Affiliations

¹ Department of Chemistry , Istanbul Technical University , 34469 Maslak, Istanbul , Turkey.
² Department of Chemical Engineering , Canakkale Onsekiz Mart University , TR-17020 Canakkale , Turkey.

PMID: 30257091
DOI: 10.1021/jacs.8b08668

Abstract

A novel method for photochemical step-growth synthesis of poly( N-ethylcarbazole) (PEC) via consecutive diphenyl iodonium hexafluorophospate (Ph₂I⁺PF₆^-) mediated electron transfer and coupling reactions is reported. The photoinduced electron transfer reaction of the excited N-ethylcarbazole (EC) in the presence of Ph₂I⁺PF₆^- as the oxidizing salt proceeded efficiently giving EC radical cations (EC^+•). Subsequently, the protons released concomitantly with coupling of two EC radical cations. The successive reactions involving excitation, electron transfer, proton release, and coupling lead to the formation of PEC. The electrochemical properties and surface morphology of the thin films of the formed polymers before and after dedoping were investigated by cyclic voltammetry, differential pulse voltammetry, and atomic force microscopy techniques, respectively.