The cationization mechanism study of novel oligo (<Emphasis Type="Italic">p</Emphasis>-phenyleneethynylene)s

Two series of new oligo(p-phenyleneethynylene)s (OPEs) O1-O4 and O5-O8, which have been proven to be one of the chief classes of molecules mainly used as the wires and other potential backbones of molecular electronic devices, have been synthesized by stepwise synthetic approach. The characterization of these oligomers was performed on MALDI TOF MS. Different cationization salts have been applied to investigate the ionization processes of these series of oligomers under MALDI conditions. The experimental results show that these oligomers display a strong tendency to undergo radical cationization and varied ionization efficiency with different cationization agents attributable to their difference in cationic diameters. Furthermore, we found that these two series of oligomers differed in ionization properties because of their different end-groups even when the same cationization agent was used.