The introduction of functional groups with varying electron-donating/-withdrawing properties at the β-position of diketopyrrolopyrrole (DPP) has been shown to affect the optoelectronic properties of the polymers. We report the synthesis of a new diketopyrrolopyrrole monomer wherein a strong electron-donating substituent, a methoxy group, was incorporated at the β-position in an effort to modulate polymer properties. Homopolymers and co-polymers of the new β-methoxy DPP and nonderivatized DPP were synthesized, and their properties were measured by cyclic voltammetry and UV-vis-near-infrared. Density functional theory computations also were employed to predict the degree of planarity of β-methoxy oligomers to probe the significance of the newly introduced S-O conformational lock. The combined experimental and computational results showed a reduction in the gap between highest occupied molecular orbital/lowest unoccupied molecular orbital levels, a redshift toward the near-infrared region, and an increased planarity in the β-methoxy polymers.

Molecular dopants are increasingly studied to enhance the conductivity of semiconducting polymers. Most available p-type dopants have low solubility in common solvents and moderate electron affinities (EA), which makes solution processing difficult and limits the range of semiconducting polymers that can be doped. Here, we describe the synthesis and characterization of the new molecular dopant TMCN3-CP, which has an EA of ?5.5 eV. We show that high ionization energy alternating copolymers such as PDPP-4T, PDPP-3T, and PDPP-T-TT-T can be p-type doped and achieve high conductivities with TMCN3-CP using sequential solution processing. The main advantage of this new dopant is the ability to chemically tailor the ester groups, which we demonstrate here for sequential solution doping of films. Sequential solution processing allows a greater ability to control the film morphology and is also desirable for scale-up to large-area polymer electronics.