Electroactive aromatic polyamides and polyimides with adamantylphenoxy-substituted triphenylamine units

A new triphenylamine-containing aromatic diamine monomer, 4-[4-(1-adamantyl)phenoxy]-4′,4″-diaminotriphenylamine, was synthesized from cesium fluoride-mediated N,N-diarylation of 4-(1-adamantyl)-4′-aminodiphenyl ether with 4-fluoronitrobenzene and subsequent reduction of the resultant dinitro compound. Novel electroactive aromatic polyamides and polyimides with adamantylphenoxy-substituted triphenylamine moieties were prepared from the newly synthesized diamine monomer with aromatic dicarboxylic acids and tetracarboxylic dianhydrides, respectively. All the resulting polymers were amorphous and most of them were readily soluble in polar solvents such as N-methyl-2-pyrrolidone (NMP) and N,N-dimethylacetamide (DMAc) and could be solution-cast into transparent and strong films with good mechanical properties. These polymers exhibited glass-transition temperatures between 254 and 310 °C, and they were fairly stable up to a temperature above 450 °C for the polyamides and above 500 °C for the polyimides. These polymers exhibited strong UV–vis absorption maxima at 293–346 nm in solution, and the photoluminescence spectra of polyamides showed maximum bands around 408–452 nm in the blue region. Cyclic voltammograms of the polyamide and polyimide films on an indium–tin oxide (ITO)-coated glass substrate exhibited one pair of reversible redox couples at half-wave oxidation potentials (E1/2) around 0.83–0.86 V and 1.12–1.13 V, respectively, versus Ag/AgCl in an acetonitrile solution. All the polymer films revealed good electrochemical and electrochromic stability by repeatedly switching electrode voltages between 0.0 V and 1.1–1.4 V, with coloration change from the pale yellowish neutral state to the green or blue oxidized state.