Structure, thermodynamics, and electronic properties are predicted for a new low energy phase of carbon which contains planar sheets equally occupied by sp2 and sp carbon atoms. The isolated planar sheets have the same planar symmetry as do the layers in graphite (p6m) and can be formally viewed as resulting from the replacement of one-third of the carbon–carbon bonds in graphite by –C 3/4 C– linkages. This material, called graphyne, is predicted to have a crystalline state formation energy of 12.4 kcal/mol carbon, which appears to be much lower than for any carbon phase which contains acetylenic groups as a major structural component. Based on the major structural reorganization required for graphitization and the observed high temperature stability of known model compounds, high temperature stability is predicted for graphyne. While graphyne will have similar mechanical properties as graphite, it is predicted to be a large bandgap semiconductor (Eg=1.2 eV) rather than a metal or semimetal. Based on this bandgap and the known behavior of related conjugated polymers having linear structures, interesting nonlinear optical properties (including a large third-order susceptibility) are expected. Property aspects are also predicted for other previously uninvestigated carbon phases which are structurally related to graphyne. Finally, structural features of alkali metal charge–transfer complexes of graphyne, which are expected to be metallic, and of related carbon phases are predicted.
The electronic and electrochemical properties of poly(p-phenylene vinylene), poly(thienylene vinylene), and their derivatives with electron donating moieties such as methyl, methoxy, and ethoxy are studied using the newly developed electrochemical potential spectroscopy (ECPS) and optical spectroscopy. It is shown that electrochemically derived band gaps agree well with band gap values obtained from optical measurements. Substitution with electron donating groups substantially lowers the ionization potentials and band gaps. A similar effect can be attributed to the incorporation of a vinylene linkage between rings of the polymer backbone. Our results imply that through a proper choice of substituents and backbone structure one can adjust the electrochemical potentials over a wide range as well as red shift the absorption edge of these polymers. In the case of the alkoxythienylene vinylenes the absorption edge is shifted through the visible range of the spectrum into the near infrared (NIR) yielding polymers which become transparent and substantially colorless upon doping with electron donors or acceptors. The structure and the substitution effects of these polymers were modeled using the semiempirical quantum chemical modified neglect of differential overlap (MNDO) method. The MNDO-determined structure served as basis for the valence effective Hamiltonian (VEH) technique which was employed to calculate band structures, ionization potentials, and band gaps, and to study theoretically the effect of substituents on the band structure. Good agreement between experimental and theoretical values of ionization potentials, band gaps and the change of these parameters with substitution is found with the exception of methoxy (or ethoxy) groups. This fact is attributed to a failure of VEH to correctly account for the role of the oxygen atoms in these groups.
The valence effective Hamiltonian technique (VEH), and modified neglect of differential overlap (MNDO) calculations are used to study the influence of strain induced by side chains on the geometry of polydiacetylene backbones and the resulting polymer band structure, band gap, and ionization potential. Simulations of strain effects on the polymer backbone yield variations in optical properties which are similar to those observed experimentally during thermochromic phase changes in urethane-substituted polydiacetylenes. Our results suggest that these changes in optical properties are related to strain at points of substituent attachment and not to fundamental changes in the backbone geometry such as an acetylenic-to-butatrienic transformation.
Paraphenylene oligomers (biphenyl, p-terphenyl, p-quaterphenyl, p-quinquephenyl, p-sexiphenyl) form electrically conducting complexes with AsF5. Prolonged exposure to AsF5 causes a polymerization of these p-phenylene oligomers to give highly conducting charge-transfer complexes of poly(p-phenylene). Conductivities as high as 50 S/cm have been measured. Powders, thin films, and single crystals of p-phenylene oligomers have been reacted with AsF5. The undoped oligomers and the doped, compensated, and annealed products have been investigated by means of x-ray diffraction, and UV-visible and IR transmission spectroscopy. The x-ray diffraction studies give evidence for a change in lattice spacings to those characteristic of the crystalline polymer. The spectroscopic measurements during AsF5 doping reveal shifts in absorption bands in the UV and the IR to those characteristic of poly(p-phenylene). Paraoligophenylenes have also been reacted with elemental potassium in THF solution with trace amounts of naphthalene. Highly conducting complexes were formed (0.5 S/cm for sexiphenyl) but there is no evidence for further polymerization.
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