Electrochemically Produced Copolymers of Pyrrole and Its Derivatives: A Plentitude of Material Properties Using “Simple” Heterocyclic Co-Monomers

Abstract

Polypyrrole is a classical, well-known conjugated polymer that is produced from a simple heterocyclic system. Numerous pyrrole derivatives exhibit biological activity, and the repeat unit is a common building block present in the chemical structure of many polymeric materials, finding wide application, primarily in optoelectronics and sensing. In this work, we focus on the variety of copolymers and their material properties that can be produced electrochemically, even though all these systems are obtained from mixtures of the “simple” pyrrole monomer and its derivatives with different conjugated and non-conjugated species.

High performance supercapacitive behaviors of oximes in a poly(aniline-co-pyrrole) based conducting polymer structure

“…The poly(aniline-co-pyrrole) copolymers generated through the copolymerization of An and Py can be discovered to have both flaky forms and quasi-spherical particles formed by agglomerates. 98 In the electrochemical copolymer synthesis method, the morphological and chemical properties of the final product produced are repeatable when the synthesis parameters, the potential range and the number of cycles are kept under the same conditions. 99,100 Many electrochemical methods have been developed for the synthesis of copolymers based on different factors such as voltage range, acid concentration, monomer concentration and ratio, and the number of cycles.…”

The Role of Electrochemical and Spectroelectrochemical Techniques in the Preparation and Characterization of Conjugated Polymers: From Polyaniline to Modern Organic Semiconductors

“…Electrochemical techniques played an extremely important role in the synthesis of the first conductive polymers. Cyclic voltammetry, in particular, was used extremely commonly in the initial research to effect direct polymer synthesis on the surface of a working electrode [ 12 ]. Such important conjugated polymers as polythiophene, polypyrrole and polyaniline were obtained electrochemically.…”

“…In the case of some aromatic compounds, electrochemical oxidation leads to side reactions other than polymerization, which prevents the formation of well-defined polymers on the electrode surface. Preparing complex polymers and establishing control over their structure is also problematic, because copolymerization can lead to structures different from those intended [ 12 ].…”

“…Based on these publications, differing mechanisms were proposed, depending on the heterocyclic compound and employed experimental conditions. This is well exemplified by the comparison of the mechanisms postulated for the polymerization of simple heterocyclic compounds, such as pyrrole or thiophene, with mechanisms proposed for the polymerization of multi-cycle compounds, such as carbazole [ 12 , 28 , 29 ]. In the case of simple heterocyclic compounds and some more complex compounds, two electrons per monomer molecule are required to cause polymerization [ 25 ].…”

Recent advances on visible light pyrrole-derived photoinitiators of polymerization

“…Pyrrole can also easily be oxidized so that pyrrole was extensively used as monomer for electropolymerization. [241,242] Easiness of oxidation is of crucial interest in order pyrrole-based photoinitiators to efficiently interact with additives. Pyrrole is also an excellent electron donor so that push-pull dyes could be designed with this heterocycle.…”