The following series of silicon-containing diacetylenes has been prepared: R
3SiC
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CC
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CSiR
3 (R
3 = Me
3 (
2a); R
3 = Me
2Ph (
2b); R
3 = MePh
2 (
2c); R
3 = Ph
3 (
2d)),
rac-MePhNpSiC
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CC
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CSiMePhNp (
2e: Np = 1-naphthyl), (
R,
R)-(+)-MePhNpSiC
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CC
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CSiMePhNp (
2e*),
rac-Ph
3SiC
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CC
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CSiMePhNp (
3), (
R)-(+)-Ph
3SiC
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CC
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CSiMePhNp (
3*), R
3SiCH
2C
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CC
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CCH
2SiR
3 (R
3 = Me
3 (
4a); R
3 = Ph
3 (
4b)), R
2HSiC
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CC
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CSiHR
2 (R
2 = Me
2 (
5a); R
2 = Ph
2(
5b)), R
3SiC
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CC
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CH (R
3 = Me
3 (
6a); R
3 = Ph
3 (
6b)), and
rac-MePhNpSiC
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CC
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CH (
6c).Single-crystal X-ray diffraction analyses were performed on
2a,
2d,
2e*,
4a, and
4b todetermine the
R1,4 distance and the angle
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between neighboring diacetylenic rods in thesolid. Diacetylenes
2a,
2e*, and
4a were tested for
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-ray and heat-induced solid-statepolymerization reactivity, and in accordance with the X-ray results, polymerization was notobserved. Terminal diyne
6c showed no polymerization activity upon irradiation with a 100krad dose of
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-rays but slowly polymerized in the solid state when heated to 70
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C for 13days. Following a preliminary investigation of
2a,
2d,
2e,
2e*,
3*,
4a,
4b,
5a,
5b,
6a,
6b,and
6c by differential scanning calorimetry (DSC), these diynes were polymerized in themolten state or just below melting. MALDI-TOF mass spectrometry shows that the polymersconsist of mixtures of oligomers with 2 to 10 repeat units. The constituting motif of theseoligomers (enyne, butatriene, polyaromatic) was elucidated by use of infrared and solutionand solid-state multinuclear NMR spectroscopies. Polymerization experiments were alsocarried out on Me
3SnC
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CC
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CSnMe
3 (
7a), Ph
3SnC
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CC
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CSnPh
3 (
7b), and Ph
2PC
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CC
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CPPh
2 (
8), and the results of these experiments are compared with the polymerization resultsof their silicon-containing analogues. A 1,4-
addition process takes place with
2a,
2d,
2e,
2e*,
3*,
5a,
5b,
7a,
7b, and
8, leading to butatriene and/or enyne structures. A 1,2-
additionprocess is operative in the case of monosilylated derivatives
6a,
6b, and
6c, giving acetylenicpolyenes. Molten-state polymerization of
4a and
4b gives polyaromatic structures.