Polyselenophenes

Conducting polymers are an interdisciplinary research area involving close collaborations between chemists, material scientists, physicists, and engineers. The field has developed during the last 30 years due to an interest in academic research as well as in possible commercial applications. Much research has been performed on conjugated polyacetylenes, polythiophenes, polypyrroles, polyphenylenes, poly(p-phenylene vinylene)s and other conducting polymers. Polythiophenes are the most studied conjugated polymers, yet, despite the thousands of papers published on polythiophene and its derivatives, very little is known about its close analogue, polyselenophene. Polyselenophenes should have some advantages over polythiophenes, however no reasonably conducting polyselenophene was reported until recently. Oligo- and polyselenophenes have a more quinoid character, lower band gap, and, importantly, they are more difficult to twist than oligo- and polythiophenes. Parent polyselenophene has been studied, while polyselenophene derivatives were practically unexplored until lately. Significant progress in polyselenophenes has been reported over the last two years, leading to the availability of promising polyselenophene materials. This feature article gives a general overview of polyselenophenes and highlights recent progress in this field, mostly from the authors' own work.