Poly(4,4'-dialkyl-2,2'-bithiazole-5,5'-diyl)s (PRBTz, alkyl= methyl (PMeBTz), butyl (PBuBTz),and heptyl (PHepBTz)) and their analogues comprised of 33-150thiazole rings have beenprepared by organometallic polycondensation, and their chemical andphysical propertiesare compared with those of
![](/images/gifchars/pi.gif)
-conjugated poly(thiophene-2,5-diyl)(PTh) and poly(pyridine-2,5-diyl) (PPy). Electrochemical n-doping of PRBTz takes place at
E![](/images/entities/deg.gif)
= -1.77 to -2.30 Vvs Ag/Ag
+ and is accompanied by the appearance of a newabsorption band in the near-infrared. PMeBTz assumes a relatively stiff structure in solutionand shows a large refractiveindex increment of 0.55 cm
3 g
-1;powder X-ray diffraction analysis of PMeBTz supports aface-to-face type stacking of the polymer chains in the solid state.All of the polymers showphotoluminescence in solutions and in the solid, and anelectroluminescence device usingPMeBTz as the emitting layer gives emission of light at
max = 680 nm with 100 cd m
-2at8 V. A thin film of PMeBTz gives an optical third-order nonlinearsusceptibility
(3) of 2.5× 10
-11 esu, which is larger than observedwith PTh and PPy films, and comparison of the
(3) value with that (0.3 ×10
-11 esu) of nonregioregularpoly(4-methylthiazole-2,5-diyl)(PMeTz) reveals the importance of the regioregular structure of PMeBTzto give the larger
(3) value.