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    Effects of PNDIT2 end groups on aggregation, thin film structure, alignment and electron transport in field-effect transistors
    (London [u.a.] : RSC, 2016) Matsidik, Rukiya; Luzio, Alessandro; Hameury, Sophie; Komber, Hartmut; McNeill, Christopher R.; Caironi, Mario; Sommer, Michael
    To develop greener protocols toward the sustainable production of conjugated polymers, we combine the advantages of atom-economic direct arylation polycondensation (DAP) with those of the green solvent 2-methyltetrahydrofuran (MeTHF). The n-type copolymer PNDIT2 is synthesized from unsubstituted bithiophene (T2) and 2,6-dibromonapthalene diimide (NDIBr2) under simple DAP conditions in MeTHF. Extensive optimization is required to suppress nucleophilic substitution of NDIBr end groups, which severely limits molar mass. Different carboxylic acids, bases, palladium precursors and ligands are successfully screened to enable quantitative yield and satisfyingly high molar masses up to Mn,SEC ∼ 20 kDa. In contrast to PNDIT2 made via DAP in toluene with tolyl-chain termini, nucleophilic substitution of NDIBr chain ends in MeTHF finally leads to NDI-OH termination. The influence of different chain termini on the optical, thermal, structural and electronic properties of PNDIT2 is investigated. For samples with identical molecular weight, OH-termination leads to slightly reduced aggregation in solution and bulk crystallinity, a decreased degree of alignment in directionally deposited films, and a consequently reduced, but not compromised, electron mobility with promising values still close to 0.9 cm2 V−1 s−1.
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    Defect-free Naphthalene Diimide Bithiophene Copolymers with Controlled Molar Mass and High Performance via Direct Arylation Polycondensation
    (Washington, DC : ACS Publications, 2015) Matsidik, Rukiya; Komber, Hartmut; Luzio, Alessandro; Caironi, Mario; Sommer, Michael
    A highly efficient, simple, and environmentally friendly protocol for the synthesis of an alternating naphthalene diimide bithiophene copolymer (PNDIT2) via direct arylation polycondensation (DAP) is presented. High molecular weight (MW) PNDIT2 can be obtained in quantitative yield using aromatic solvents. Most critical is the suppression of two major termination reactions of NDIBr end groups: nucleophilic substitution and solvent end-capping by aromatic solvents via C–H activation. In situ solvent end-capping can be used to control MW by varying monomer concentration, whereby end-capping is efficient and MW is low for low concentration and vice versa. Reducing C–H reactivity of the solvent at optimized conditions further increases MW. Chain perfection of PNDIT2 is demonstrated in detail by NMR spectroscopy, which reveals PNDIT2 chains to be fully linear and alternating. This is further confirmed by investigating the optical and thermal properties as a function of MW, which saturate at Mn ≈ 20 kDa, in agreement with controls made by Stille coupling. Field-effect transistor (FET) electron mobilities μsat up to 3 cm2/(V·s) are measured using off-center spin-coating, with FET devices made from DAP PNDIT2 exhibiting better reproducibility compared to Stille controls.