Counter-ion induced processibility of conjugated polyquinolines

Complexation of polyquinolines (PQs) with functionalized protonic acids renders these structures soluble in common organic solvents. Protonation of the quinoline units results in a positively charged polymer backbone which is compensated for by negative charges of the functionalized counter-ion. These PQ complexes can be solution-blended with common bulk polymers. Transmission electron microscopy reveals an extremely homogeneous and fine fibrillar interconnected dispersion of the PQ complex for polyblends containing only a few percent PQ.