Synthesis of conjugated polymers bearing pendant bipyridine ruthenium complexes

Conjugated polymers bearing pendant bipyridine groups, PM1PT-x, were synthesized in high yield from a carefully designed dibromocarbazole monomer M1 using a Suzuki coupling reaction with a phenothiazine diborate monomer. PM1PT-x, where x is the mole percentage of M1 in the total feed of dibromo-monomers and varied to levels of 25%, 50%, 75% and 100%, was reacted with a ruthenium complex to yield conjugated polymers bearing pendant bipyridine ruthenium complexes, PM1PT-x-Ru. The introduction of ruthenium complexes extended the absorption of PM1PT-x-Ru to the visible light region. Furthermore, these polymers demonstrated sufficient stability and suitable energy levels to potentially be highly efficient photoactive materials for polymeric solar cells. (C) 2015 Elsevier B.V. All rights reserved.