Journal of Polymer Science Part A-Polymer Chemistry

A 4-methoxy-substituted triphenylamine-containing homopolymer, poly [N,N-diphenyl-4-methoxyphenylamine-40,400-diyl] (PMeOTPA), with blue light (435 nm) fluorescence quantum efficiency up to 79% was easily prepared by oxidative coupling polymerization of N,N-diphenyl-4-methoxyphenylamine (MeOTPA) using FeCl3 as an oxidant. Its reversible oxidation redox couple was at 0.41 V versus Fc/Fc in acetonitrile solution. It exhibited good thermal stability with 10% weight-loss temperatures above 500 8C under a nitrogen atmosphere and relatively high softening temperature (154 8C). The simply designed homopolymer revealed moderate stability of electrochromic characteristics, changing color from original pale yellowish to red, and then to black. The PMeOTPA based field effect transistor also showed p-type characteristics with significant temperature dependence. The present study suggests that PMeOTPA is a multifunctional polymer for various optoelectronic device applications. VC 2007 Wiley Periodicals, Inc. J Polym Sci Part A: Polym Chem 45: 3292–3302, 2007