A voltammetric study of the oxidative polymerization of N-functionalized 3-aminothiophenes

ORGN 585

Christopher L. Heth, christopher.heth@ndsu.edu and Seth C. Rasmussen, seth.rasmussen@ndsu.edu. Department of Chemistry and Molecular Biology, North Dakota State University, Fargo, ND 58105
Due to their stability and ease of synthetic modification, polythiophenes are highly versatile conjugated polymers of fundamental and technological interest. One such class of polythiophenes, polyalkoxythiophenes, retain the solubility of simple alkyl derivatives, but exhibit increased conjugation due to a reduction in sterics and the direct electronic contribution of the alpha-oxygen of the alkoxy group. Our work has generated an interest in nitrogen-derivatized polythiophenes, thus initiating new synthetic routes to analogous N-functionalized poly(3-aminothiophene)s. While these materials have been successfully produced via oxidative polymerization, there are still a number of unresolved questions concerning the oxidative processes. To further study the electrochemical behavior of these systems, N-octyl-3-aminothiophene and N-methyl-N-octyl-3-aminothiophene were studied through various voltammetry techniques and analysis of multiple cycles for the formation of oligomers was done using NMR methods. The full electrochemical results will be presented along with a proposed polymerization mechanism for this new class of polythiophenes.