Journal of Polymer Science Part A: Polymer Chemistry, Vol.36, No.14, 2619-2629, 1998
Synthesis of polyamines with pendant cyanoimidazole units and their electrochemical properties
The 2-(1-methyl-4,5-dicyanoimidazolyl) group was attached to poly(diallylamine) and polyethylenimine, affording polymers containing an electron-withdrawing pendant group. The key to their preparation is high reactivity of 1-methyl-2-fluoro-4,5-dicyanoimidazole (1) toward nucleophilic aromatic substitution (NAS) reactions with aliphatic amines. Cyclic voltammograms of these polymers show reduction waves at -2.6 to -2.7 V vs. Ag/Ag+ but no reoxidation waves, unlike those of monomeric and oligomeric model compounds, which are quasi-reversible. The cyclic voltammetry studies of oligomeric model compounds with different alkyl spacers show that the degree of quasi-reversibility decreases as dicyanoimidazoles are crowded together in a molecule, suggesting that a certain degree of chemical reaction occurs between reduced dicyanoimidazole groups.
Keywords:CYCLIC VOLTAMMETRY, HETEROAROMATIC POLYAMIDES, POLYMERS;POLYMERIZATION, IMIDAZOLE, SECONDARY, AMINES