Synthesis of new electroactive polymers by ion-exchange replacement of Mg(II) by 2H+ or Zn(II) cations inside Mg(II) polyporphine film, with their subsequent electrochemical transformation to condensed-structure materials

Abstract It has been demonstrated that the treatment of the magnesium polyporphine of type I, pMgP-I, by trifluoroacetic acid in acetonitrile may be used to replace initial central Mg(II) cations inside the monomeric macrocycle units by protons, to get a new electroactive polymer, “free-base polyporphine of type I”, pH2P-I. In its turn, these inserted protons may be replaced by Zn(II) cations via the film treatment with zinc acetate in organic solvent, to get another new electroactive polymer, “zinc polyporphine of type I”, pZnP-I. These changes of central ions inside monomer units manifest themselves by characteristic modifications of their electroactive properties as well as of UV–visible…