Low-Defect, High Molecular Weight Indacenodithiophene (IDT) Polymers Via a C–H Activation: Evaluation of a Simpler and Greener Approach to Organic Electronic Materials

The development, optimization, and assessment of new methods for the preparation conjugated materials is key to continued progress organic electronics. Direct C–H activation have emerged developed over last 10 years become an invaluable synthetic tool polymers both redox-active solid-state applications. Here, we evaluate direct (hetero)arylation polymerization (DHAP) synthesis indaceno[1,2-b:5,6-b′]dithiophene-based polymers. We demonstrate, using a range techniques, including visualization individual polymer chains via high-resolution scanning tunneling microscopy, that DHAP can produce with high degree regularity purity subsequently perform in thin-film transistors comparably those made by other cross-coupling polymerizations require increased complexity. Ultimately, this work results improved atom economy reducing number steps access high-performance molecular polymeric materials.