Conjugated polymers featuring heavier main group element multiple bonds: a diphosphene-PPV

A new sterically encumbered bifunctional ligand has been developed, and its ability to provide simultaneous stabilization for two low-coordinate phosphorus centers has allowed the synthesis of new hybrid inorganic-organic conjugated materials. The new phosphaalkene polymers have been prepared from a diphospha-Wittig reagent and are exclusively E-configured about the P=C bonds. An unprecedented polymer having diphosphene (-P=P-) units in the polymer main chain is also reported. The soluble polymers were characterized by UV-visible and fluorescence spectroscopy, as well as by 1H and 31P NMR spectroscopy.