Synthesis and properties of conjugated polymers incorporated with electron deficient polyheterocyclic units

Our group has developed a new and versatile synthetic methodology for the synthesis of polyheterocyclic systems. Molecules with pyrazinopyrazine units were synthesized by two steps, and this approach can be extended to the synthesis of other similar molecules by slight modification of the substrates used. In this paper, we report the synthesis of conjugated polymers incorporated with pyrazino-1,10-phenanthroline and other electron deficient polymers with similar structures. Due to the presence low lying pi* excited states, the polymers are non emissive in nature, and are potential candidates for electron acceptors and electron transport materials in opto-electronic devices. By coupling with electron donating molecules/polymers, hybrid materials with low electron absorption energy may be obtained. These materials may serve as photosensitizers in sensing devices for NIR detection.