A concise synthesis and electrochemical behavior of functionalized poly(thieno[3,4-b]thiophenes): New conjugated polymers with low bandgap

New thieno[3,4-b]thiophene derivatives were prepared via a short and versatile synthetic route. Electrochemical studies of 2-heptenylthieno[3,4-b] thiophene, 2-styrylthieno[3,4-b]thiophene, and 2-phenyl-3-(thieno[3,4-b] thiophene-2-yl)acrylonitrile and the corresponding polymers revealed that raising the HOMO and lowering the LUMO can be attained by functionalizing thieno[3,4-b]thiophene with aromatic resonance-enhancing and electron-withdrawing groups. The bandgap of resulting polymers varied from 0.78 to 1.0 eV, indicating that poly(2-phenyl-3-(thieno[3,4-b]thiophene-2-yl) acrylonitrile) is one of the lowest bandgap polymers ever reported.