High-Performance Electron-Transporting Polymers Derived from a Heteroaryl Bis(trifluoroborate)

In this communication, we report that dipotassium aryl bis(trifluoroborate)s make stable and easy-to-purify yet reactive monomers under Suzuki polycondensation reactions. A bis(trifluoroborate) of 2-alkylbenzotriazole was prepared successfully and copolymerized with dibromobenzothiadiazole in the presence of a Pd catalyst and LiOH, yielding high molecular weight conjugated polymers. This polymer (P1) composed of all electron-accepting units shows excellent electron-transport properties (μe = 0.02 cm2 V–1 s–1), which proves the value of the aryl bis(trifluoroborate) monomers and suggests that many other types of semiconducting polymers that could not be accessed previously can be synthesized using this approach.