Phenoxazine and diketopyrrolopyrrole based donor-acceptor conjugated polymers: synthesis and optical properties

Abstract While numerous phenoxazine-based small molecules developed for organic electronic devices, very limited attention has been received on synthesized conjugated polymers containing this phenoxazine. Herein, we designed and synthesized two new low-bandgap donor−acceptor conjugated copolymers based on phenoxazine with different side chains and diketopyrrolopyrrole by Pd-catalyzed direct (hetero)arylation polycondensation using a Pd(OAc)2 catalyst and PCy3.HBF4 ligand. The effects of side chain branched alkyl and benzoyl of phenoxazine on the thermal, and optical properties of the polymers have been investigated. Both the polymers have a good yield 85%, high molecular weight up to 41500 g/mol, low dispersity index 1.91, excellent solubility in common organic solvents, and a broad absorption spectrum in the range of 500-900 nm with optical bandgaps as low as 1.40 eV. All these polymers possess good thermal stability with decomposition temperatures over 350 oC and no obvious thermal transitions.