Polythiophenes and devices thereof

1. A polythiophene

wherein A is a side chain; B is hydrogen or a side chain; D is a divalent linkage; a and c represent the number of A-substituted thienylenes; b is the number of B-substituted thienylene segments; d is 0 or 1; and n represents the degree of polymerization or the number of the monomer segments.

2. A polythiophene in accordance with claim 1 wherein A contains from 5 to about 25 carbon atoms; said B side chain contains from zero to about 4 carbon atoms; said D is optionally comprised of a saturated moiety of alkylene, —O—R—O—, —S—R—S—, —NH—R—NH—, wherein R is alkylene or arylene, or an unsaturated moiety of arylene or heteroaromatics; a is from about 1 to about 8 and c being from 0 to about 8, and b is from zero to about 6.

3. A polythiophene in accordance with claim 1 wherein a is from about 1 to about 7.

4. A polythiophene in accordance with claim 1 wherein b is from about 1 to about 7.

5. A polythiophene in accordance with claim 1 wherein d is zero.

6. A polythiophene in accordance with claim 1 wherein d is 1.

7. A polythiophene in accordance with claim 1 wherein n is from about 5 to about 5,000.

8. A polythiophene in accordance with claim 1 wherein n is from about 5 to about 3,000.

9. A polythiophene in accordance with claim 1 wherein n is from about 10 to about 1,000.

10. A polythiophene in accordance with claim 1 wherein A is alkyl containing from about 6 to about 25 carbon atoms; B is hydrogen or alkyl containing from 1 to about 3 carbon atoms; D is arylene or dioxyarene, each containing from about 6 to about 40 carbon atoms, or alkylene or dioxyalkane, each containing from about 1 to about 20 carbon atoms.

11. A polythiophene in accordance with claim 1 wherein A is alkyl containing from about 8 to about 12 carbon atoms, and B is a hydrogen atom.

12. A polythiophene in accordance with claim 1 wherein A is alkyl containing from 5 to about 15 carbon atoms; B is a hydrogen atom; D is arylene; a, b, c, and m are independently selected from the numbers 1, 2, and 3; and d=1.

13. A polythiophene in accordance with claim 1 wherein A is alkyl containing from about 8 to about 12 carbon atoms; B is a hydrogen atom; D is arylene; a=c=m=1; b=2; and d=1.

14. A polythiophene in accordance with claim 1 wherein the number average molecular weight (M n ) of (III) is from about 10,000 to about 30,000, and the weight average molecular weight (M w ) is from about 15,000 to about 100,000.

15. A polythiophene in accordance with claim 1 wherein the number average molecular weight (M n ) of (III) is from about 2,000 to about 100,000, and wherein the weight average molecular weight (M w ) is from about 4,000 to about 500,000, each as measured by gel permeation chromatography using polystyrene standards.

16. A polythiophene in accordance with claim 1 wherein A is hexyl heptyl, octyl, nonyl, decyl, undecyl, dodecyl, tridecyl, tetradecyl, or pentadecyl.

17. A polythiophene in accordance with claim 1 wherein D is an arylene selected from the group consisting of phenylene, tolylene, xylylene, biphenylene, substituted biphenylene, fluorenylene, phenanthrenylene, dihydrophenanthrenylene, dibenzofuranediyl, dibenzothiophenediyl, and carbazole-diyl.

18. A polythiophene in accordance with claim 1 wherein D is saturated linkage selected from the group consisting of alkylene, dioxyalkane, dioxyarene, and oligoethylene oxide.

19. A polythiophene wherein the monomer segments thereof contain

wherein A is a side chain; B is hydrogen or a side chain; and D is a divalent segment, and wherein the number of A-substituted thienylene units (I) in the monomer segments is from about 1 to about 10, the number of B-substituted thienylene units (II) is from 0 to about 5, and the number of divalent segments D is 1.