Université de Strasbourg

Conjugated polymeres

Cyclooctyne-bearing Conjugated Polymers for Connection of Nanotubes and Fullerenes

USIAS Fellow : Alex Adronov

This project will focus on the preparation of fundamentally new materials linking molecular, polymeric, and nanoscale carbon-based structures using covalent and supramolecular interactions. We will produce a conjugated polymer, bearing cyclooctyne structures in its backbone, that can be efficiently modified, post polymerization, using a very efficient chemical reaction called strain-promoted alkyne-azide cycloaddition.  This reaction allows us to transform every single triple-bond within our polymer backbone (a chain of 30-50 repeating units) upon reaction with an azide functionality, producing a cyclic structure that serves as a linkage to any molecular entity we wish to introduce.  In the proposed work, we will study the reaction between our polymer and azide derivatives of fullerenes, which have been developed in the Nierengarten research group.  We will investigate the efficiency of the chemistry, and the properties of the final, grafted polymers, to determine their ability to interact with one another and with the surface of carbon nanotubes.  In addition, we will investigate a variety of fullerene derivatives, and will determine if these polymeric nanostructures can enhance the efficiency of organic solar cells, amongst a number of other potential applications. 

France 2030