Journal of the American Chemical Society, Vol.131, No.51, 18232-18232, 2009
Electropolymerization of an N-Heterocyclic Carbene-Gold(I) Complex
We report the first example of a polymer in which each monomer contains an N-heterocyclic carbene (NHC) orthogonally connected to its main chain. A polymerizable imidazolylidene-AuCl complex containing pendant bithiophene moieties was prepared in a high-yield multistep procedure. Oxidative electropolymerization of this monomer afforded the desired polymer, (Au[NHC]Cl)(n), which was characterized via electrochemical studies as well as X-ray photoelectron and UV-vis spectroscopy.