Motivated by the influence on the physical and chemical properties of polymeric materials caused by the inclusion of organometallic units, the present work is focused on the synthesis and characterization of an organometallic conjugated polymer with similar structure to poly(p-phenylenevinylene) (PPV), in which the phenylene groups are replaced by ferrocenylene units in the main chain. The polymer, poly(1,1'-ferrocenylenevinylene), (PFV), was prepared via McMurry coupling reaction of 1,1'-ferrocenedialdehyde as an orange and amorphous solid, insoluble both in polar and apolar solvents. The characterization of the polymer was carried out employing the following methods: infrared (FTIR) and Raman spectroscopies and thermogravimetric analysis (TGA).
Ferrocene; PPV; conducting polymers; McMurry coupling