Spectroelectrochemistry of heteroatom - containing intrinsically conducting polymers synthesized via encapsulated monomers

Introduction

Intrinsically conducting polymers (ICP's) have attracted a lot of attention during the last decades. ICP's possess high electrical conductivity, redox electroactivity and relatively high environmental stability [1,2]. Cyclodextrins (CD's) are cyclic glucopyranose oligomers having a toroidal shape. The α-ß-and γ-cyclodextrins contain six, seven and eight glucose units, respectively and exhibit conical structures with a hydrophobic internal cavity and a hydrophilic exterior due to the presence of hydroxyl groups. These compounds have the ability to form inclusion complexes with guest molecules of the proper size [3]. This has led to considerable interest in the role of the reactions of guest molecules. In particular, complexation by CD's influences the electrochemical response of the electroactive guest [4]. The well-known ability of CD's to form super molecular complexes with suitable organic, inorganic, neutral and ionic substances has resulted in the design of selective electrodes based on CD's [5,6]. Cavity diameters of α-ß-and γ-cyclodextrin are 5.70, 7.8 and 9.50 Å, respectively, which is large enough to serve as host site for monomer molecules such as pyrrole and some derivatives [7].

Proposal

In the present study spectroelectrochemistry of heteroatom - containing intrinsically conducting polymers synthesized via encapsulated monomers will be investigated. In the first stage of the study, pyrrole and two pyrrole derivatives, 3-methyl pyrrole (MPY) and N-methyl pyrrole (N-MPY) will be encapsulated into 2,6 dimethyl ß- cyclodextrin (DMßCD), which forms 1:1 host-guest compounds, and they will be polymerized electrochemically. All polymers will be characterized by cyclic voltammetry, in situ conductivity and FT-IR . In the second stage, the polymers will be characterized spectroelectrochemically by in situ UV - visible spectroscopy and in situ Raman spectroscopy.

References