Poly(diiododiacetylene): Preparation, Isolation, and Full Characterization of a Very Simple Poly(diacetylene)

Poly(diiodiacetylene), or PIDA, is a conjugated polymer containing the poly(diacetylene) (PDA) backbone but with only iodine atom substituents. The monomer diiodobutadiyne (1) can be aligned in the solid state with bis(nitrile) oxalamide hosts by hydrogen bonds between oxalamide groups and weak Lewis acid−base interactions (halogen bonds) between nitriles and iodoalkynes. The resulting cocrystals start out pale blue but turn shiny and copper-colored as the polymerization progresses. The development of a crystallization methodology that greatly improves the yield of PIDA to about 50% now allows the full characterization of the polymer by X-ray diffraction, solid-state 13C MAS NMR, Raman, and electron absorption spectroscopy. Comparison of a series of hosts reveals an odd−even effect in the topochemical polymerization, based on the alkyl chain length of the host. In the cocrystals formed with bis(pentanenitrile) oxalamide (4) and bis(heptanenitrile) oxalamide (6), the host/guest ratio is 1:2 and the monomer...