A new series of
-conjugated (ABA)
n-type polymers constructed of electron-donating thiophene or3-alkylthiophene (as the unit A) and electron-accepting pyridazine (as the unit B) were synthesized viapalladium-catalyzed dehalogenative polycondensation of Br-ABA-Br using hexamethylditin as thecondensing reagent. The obtained polymers were characterized by NMR, IR, and elemental analysis.The polymers with alkyl side chains were soluble in organic solvents, and gave number-average molecularweights ranging from 3.2 × 10
4 to 16 × 10
4 in gel-permeation analysis. The polymers exhibited stronggreen photoluminescence (PL) with the peak in the range of 510-520 nm and quantum yields of 51-61% in chloroform. The PL intensity was sensitive toward acids. In films, the UV-vis and PL peaksshifted to a longer wavelength by about 30-40 nm. Powder X-ray diffraction data suggested that thepolymer formed a highly ordered
-stacked assembly assisted by the side chain crystallization and dipole-dipole interaction. Cyclic voltammetry revealed that the polymer was susceptible to both electrochemicalp- and n-doping, and the n-doping peak appeared in the range of -2.15 to -2.28 V vs Ag
+/Ag. Thepolymer served as a good material for a thin-film field-effect transistor and gave a hole mobility of 3 ×10
-3 cm
2 V
-1 s
-1.