Carbazole-based pi-conjugated polyazomethines: Effects of catenation and comonomer insertion on optoelectronic features

A series of carbazole-based polyazomethines have been synthesized under micro-wave irradiation and without transition-metal based catalyst. The impact of both the catenation brought by the carbazole subunits and the insertion of a co-monomer, i.e. 3,4 ethylene dioxythiophene (EDOT), on the optical and electrochemical properties have been studied. Among the different polyazomethines synthesized, the best in terms of optical and electrochemical properties has been found to be the one with the azomethine function linked in positions 2,7 of carbazole subunits. Upon the insertion of the EDOT comonomer, an increase of the molecular weight and a red-shift in the absorption spectra has been observed, corresponding to a diminution of the electronic gap