From Monomer to Conjugated Polymer: A Perspective on Best Practices for Synthesis

Conjugated polymers are a class of innovative materials used for organic photovoltaics (OPV), organic thermoelectrics (OTE), supercapacitors, electrochromics, and more. The focus of most literature reports is often given to a limited set of metrics: power conversion efficiency for OPV or conductivity and Seebeck coefficient for OTE. If a material fails to deliver a certain threshold of performance, publications concerning it may be hindered, not pursued by others in the field, or worse, not published at all. We believe more thorough preparation, purification, and purity confirmation protocols, along with careful reporting in manuscripts, would benefit the entire conjugated materials field. This contribution intends to provide practical guidance on preparation and purity to chemists synthesizing conjugated polymers. While the focus is on polymers synthesized by the Stille polymerization, many of the principles and tips apply to the synthesis of molecular species and other Pd-catalyzed cross-coupling reactions and is the fruit of two doctoral dissertations worth of education, experience, tips, and tricks. We encourage readers to use it as a starting guide and a quick reference for lab work, pin it to your lab's bulletin board, and add your own experience to it. It is our hope that we will hold ourselves, our lab mates, our collaborators, and our field to an elevated standard of synthesis and reporting.