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Updated: Apr 1, 2026

Synthesis of Cyclic Polymers and Characterization of Their Diffusive Motion in the Melt State at the Single Molecule Level
Published on: September 26, 2016
Solution-Crystallization and Related Phenomena in 9,9-Dialkyl-Fluorene Polymers. I. Crystalline Polymer-Solvent
Aleksandr Perevedentsev1, Paul N Stavrinou1, Donal D C Bradley1
1Department of Physics and Centre for Plastic Electronics, Imperial College London London, SW7 2AZ, United Kingdom.
Abstract:
Polymer-solvent compound formation, occurring via co-crystallization of polymer chains and selected small-molecular species, is demonstrated for the conjugated polymer poly(9,9-dioctylfluorene) (PFO) and a range of organic solvents. The resulting crystallization and gelation processes in PFO solutions are studied by differential scanning calorimetry, with X-ray diffraction providing additional information on the resulting microstructure. It is shown that PFO-solvent compounds comprise an ultra-regular molecular-level arrangement of the semiconducting polymer host and small-molecular solvent guest. Crystals form following adoption of the planar-zigzag β-phase chain conformation, which, due to its geometry, creates periodic cavities that accommodate the ordered inclusion of solvent molecules of matching volume. The findings are formalized in terms of nonequilibrium temperature-composition phase diagrams. The potential applications of these compounds and the new functionalities that they might enable are also discussed. © 2015 The Authors. Journal of Polymer Science Part B: Polymer Physics published by Wiley Periodicals, Inc. J. Polym. Sci., Part B: Polym. Phys. 2015, 53, 1481-1491.
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