Modeling the growth and molecular structure of conductive polymers: Application to poly(dialkoxybenzene)s

A modeling strategy, based on (i) quantum semiempirical calculation of the electronic structure of the successive intermediate oligomers and (ii) evaluation of the activation energy of the successive coupling reactions by use of the frontier orbital model, has been used to study the growth of a wide set of conductive polymers and is illustrated with poly(1,2-dialkoxybenzene) and poly(1,4-dialkoxybenzene) generated by electrochemical oxidation of the corresponding monomer. These monomers have been chosen because they are known to yield polymers of completely different structures. The strategy, which is designed to be as little computer time-consuming as possible, allows us to predict a growth trend in agreement with the structure inferred from spectrochemical experiments. In the case of poly(1,2-dialkoxybenzene) it suggests the formation of a cyclic tetramer as a byproduct detected in small quantities by means of MALDI spectroscopy. This modeling strategy allows one to describe the electronic modifications induced by the growth of a highly conjugated structure. It suggests that oxidation of the successive oligomers at high doping level and quinonic deformation are key factors for the growth of long and regular polymer structures