Study of conformational stability of polycarbonitrile-polyazine copolymers

In a previous study we showed that the trans-polycarbonitrile polymer presents a strong deviation from the planarity suggesting that this conformation does not correspond to the most stable structure of the system. These non-planarity can affect significantly the electronic properties of the polymer. On the other hand the polyazine derivative, a conjugated polymer, a nitrogen containing analog of the polyacetylene, that can be considered the head-to-head polymer of the imine repeat unit, is a planar conjugated system with very small sigma-pi interaction. In this work we report a comparative study of the electronic structures and the electrical conduction properties of the polycarbonitrile-polyazine copolymers. Our results indicate that the planarity of the copolymers depends on the competition among carbonitrile-azine segments size and can lead to a conductive system.