Synthesis of soluble oligo(2,5-dioctyloxyphenylene)s by mild oxidative coupling

Abstract Oligo(2,5-dioctyloxyphenylene)s, with DP=6–7, have been synthesized in one step from 1,4-dioctyloxybenzene by the Scholl reaction using molybdenum pentachloride as an oxidative agent. The structural characterization by 13 C-NMR, UV–vis and X-ray fluorescence spectroscopy has shown that in optimized reaction conditions oligo(2,5-dioctyloxyphenylene)s with their monomer units predominantly connected in para position are formed. Noteworthy are the Cl atom content