STUDIES TOWARD THE DESIGN OF ORGANIC POLYMERS WITH PREDICTABLE DELOCALIZED PI-ELECTRON DOMAINS - A REVIEW OF THE POTENTIAL ADVANTAGES FOR APPLICATIONS IN MOLECULAR ELECTRONICS AND NONLINEAR OPTICS

Chemical or electrochemical oxidation/reduction of various electroactive organic polymers yield polaronic (radical-ion) or bipolaronic (di-ion) charge states which exhibit metallic conductivity in the bulk material. These same delocalized pi-electron mid-gap states may also be of importance in the design of new third-order nonlinear optical materials. However, in order to utilize these, or similar materials in the practical design of electro-optic devices, a better understanding of how these charge states can be formed and stabilized, and how the delocalization length can be controlled or maximized, is necessary. Studies have been designed in the present work which attempt to address these questions and suggest how new families of polymers for these applications may be designed.