Copolymers of polyethylene and perylenediimides through ring-opening metathesis polymerization

The synthesis and characterization of a series of copolymers consisting of polyethylene (PE) and perylenediimide (PERY) dyes is described. The synthetic route comprises metathesis polymerization of cis-cyclooctene (COE) and PERY substituted with two allyl groups. This enables incorporating PERY dye molecules into an unsaturated polycyclooctene (PCOE) chain. Subsequent hydrogenation of the PCOE-PERY copolymer affords a high molecular weight PE-PERY copolymer. Ring formation occurs during the metathesis polymerization, but can be suppressed by increasing the initial monomer concentration in accordance with Jacobsen-Stockmayer theory, giving access to predominantly linear PE chains with PERY incorporated in the polymeric chain. Optical characterization of the PE-PERY copolymer with UV-vis absorption and photoinduced absorption spectroscopy reveals that the optical and electronic properties of the PERY moieties are not significantly affected by incorporating them into the polymer chain.