Molecular design and synthesis of poly(azoarylenes)

The novel conducting polymers such as poly(azopyrrolylene) [II-a] and poly(bis(pyrrolylazo)phenylenes) [III-a,b] were successfully synthesized, and these polymers indicated high conductivity up to 100 S/cm after doping. These polymers also showed excellent stability in the air and in high temperature more than poly(pyrrole). We carried out band calculations of azopyrrolylene, azothienylene and bis(pyrrolylazo)-phenylene by using STO-3G basis set. Generally, these poly(azoarylenes) were predicted to have small band gaps. Especially, some of poly(azoarylenes) tend to have quinoid form and very small energy difference between benzenoid and quinoid form.