Versatile synthesis of various conjugated aromatic homo- and copolymers

In recent years, variously substituted derivatives of poly(1,4-phenylene vinylene)s have emerged as efficient candidates for the emissive layer in polymer light emitting diodes. The synthetic routes for these polymers divide between precursor routes and those leading to fully conjugated solvent-processible polymers. The Gilch dehydrohalogenation polycondensation has largely been used for the latter class. In this presentation, we describe a novel family of 2,3-disubstituted aromatic precursors, derived from catechol, and we report their efficient polymerisation as homo- and copolymers with, for example, silyl-substituted derivatives to give materials which are highly fluorescent and serve as interesting materials in polymer LEDs.