Synthesis and properties of an ionic polyacetylene with norbornene moieties

New conjugated ionic polymer with the pendent norborene moieties was prepared by the activated polymerization of 2-ethynylpyridine by using 5-[(5-bromopenthoxy)methyl]-2-norborene without any additional initiator or catalyst. This polymerization proceeded well in the mild reaction condition to give a high yield of polymer (polymer yield: 90%). The chemical structure of poly{2-ethynyl-N-[(5-norborenylmethoxy)pentyl]pyridinium bromide} (PENPPB) was characterized by such instrumental methods as NMR (1H and 13C), IR, UV–vis spectroscopies, and elemental analysis to have the conjugated polymer backbone bearing norbornyl moieties. The photoluminescence maximum peak of polymer was located at 519 nm, which corresponds to the photon energy of 2.39 eV. The norbornyl substituents within the polyacetylene-based polymers shifted PL maximum values because substituent size affects the molecule arrangement. The cyclovoltammograms of polymer exhibited the electrochemically stable window at −1.6 to 2.3 V region. It was found that the kinetics of the redox process of polymer might be mainly controlled by the electron transfer process based on the experiment of the oxidation current density of polymer versus the scan rate.