Polyacetylene
From Free net encyclopedia
Polyacetylene (PA) is an organic polymer that can be converted to a conducting polymer of the rigid-rod polymer host family. As prepared by a Ziegler-Natta catalyst, with high levels of catalyst, the polymer is a silver, non-conductive film. Oxidation with iodine provides a 108 increase in conductivity. The 2000 Nobel Prize in Chemistry was awarded to Alan J. Heeger, Alan G MacDiarmid, and Hideki Shirakawa for this work.
The polymerization of the acetylene (chemical formula C2H2, structurally: HC≡CH) results in a long chain of carbon atoms with alternating single and double bonds between them, each with one hydrogen atom which could be replaced by a functional group. Schematically (with hydrogen atoms not shown) ...C=C-C=C-C...
Polyacetylene, prepared differently, is also called acetylene black or polyacetylene black.