Strategies for Well-Defined Conjugated Polymers via DHAP

Conjugated polymers have been widely studied as semiconducting materials for applications such as OPVs, OLEDs, organic transistors, and bioelectronics. Traditionally, their synthesis has relied on toxic reagents and complex monomer purification using methods like Stille-Migita or Suzuki-Miyaura polymerization. Recently, Direct (Hetero)Arylation Polymerization (DHAP) has been adopted as a greener and more atom-economical alternative, eliminating the need for organotin or organoboron by-products and reducing synthetic steps.

Despite its sustainability, DHAP faces challenges, including the formation of β-defects that affect polymer properties and the dependence on costly palladium catalysts. To improve DHAP’s efficiency and scalability, various catalytic systems have been developed. In this work, heterogeneous palladium (SiliaCat® DPP-Pd) was utilized for the first time in a continuous flow setup for DHAP, enabling defect-reduced polymers, reduced costs, and consistent quality.

Efforts were also made to replace Pd with affordable copper catalysts; however, suitable Cu-based systems were not identified due to insufficient reactivity with brominated substrates.

• Sangachin, MH

• UNIVERSITE LAVAL

• Request a Brochure
• Request more Info
• Request a Quote