Polycyclic polymer comprising thiophene units, a method of producing and uses of such polymer

1. Compound comprising a divalent unit selected from the group consisting of units of the following formula (I)

wherein R 1 and R 2 are independently of each other selected from the group consisting of H, halogen, carbyl and hydrocarbyl, and X is at each occurrence independently selected from the group consisting of CR 3 R 4 , SiR 3 R 4 , GeR 3 R 4 and C═CR 3 R 4 , with R 3 and R 4 being independently of each other selected from the group consisting of hydrogen, carbyl and hydrocarbyl.

2. Compound according to claim 1 , wherein X is CR 3 R 4 or SiR 3 R 4 .

3. Compound according to claim 1 , wherein X is CR 3 R 4 .

4. Compound according to claim 1 comprising a divalent unit of the following formulae (Ia)

wherein Ar comprises an aromatic ring system comprising from 6 to 60 aromatic carbon atoms or a heteroaromatic ring system comprising from 5 to 60 aromatic ring atoms, at least one of which is a heteroatom.

5. Compound according to claim 4 , wherein Ar is selected from the group consisting of formulae (D1) to (132) and (A1) to (A93):

wherein R 11 , R 12 , R 13 , R 14 , R 15 , R 16 , R 17 and R 18 are independently of each other selected from the group consisting of hydrogen, F, Br, Cl, —CN, —NC, —NCO, —NCS, —OCN, —SCN, —C(O)NR 0 R 00 , —C(O)X 0 , —C(O)R 0 , —NH 2 , —NR 0 R 00 , —SH, —SR 0 , —SO 3 H, —SO 2 R 0 , —OH, —NO 2 , —CF 3 , —SF 5 , and optionally substituted silyl or hydrocarbyl with 1 to 40 C atoms that is optionally substituted and optionally comprises one or more hetero atoms, where X 0 is halogen and R 0 and R 00 are, independently of each other, H or optionally substituted C 1-40 carbyl or hydrocarbyl.

6. Compound according to claim 5 , wherein Ar is selected from the group consisting of formulae (D1), (D10), (D19), (A1) and (A19), wherein R 11 and R 12 are independently of each other hydrogen or fluorine.

7. Compound according to claim 1 comprising a group M, which comprises the following structure:

*—U a m1 —Ar a m2 —U b m3 —Ar b m4 —Ar c m5 —*  (III)

wherein

U a and U b are independently of each other selected from the divalent unit selected from the group consisting of formulae (I) of claim 1 ;

Ar a , Ar b and Ar c are independently of each other aryl or heteroaryl different from U a and U b ;

m1, m2, m3 and m4 are independently of each other selected from the group consisting of 0, 1 and 2, with the provision that at least one of m1 and m3 is not 0; and

m5 is 0 or an integer from 1 to 10.

8. Compound according to claim 7 , wherein Ar a , Ar b and Ar c —if present—are independently of each other selected from the group consisting of formulae (D1) to (D132) and (A1) to (A93):

wherein R 11 , R 12 , R 13 , R 14 , R 15 , R 16 , R 17 and R 18 are independently of each other selected from the group consisting of hydrogen, F, Br, Cl, —CN, —NC, —NCO, —NCS, —OCN, —SCN, —C(O)NR 0 R 00 , —C(O)X 0 , —C(O)R 0 , —NH 2 , —NR 0 R 00 , —SH, —SR 0 , —SO 3 H, —SO 2 R 0 , —OH, —NO 2 , —CF 3 , —SF 5 , and optionally substituted silyl or hydrocarbyl with 1 to 40 C atoms that is optionally substituted and optionally comprises one or more hetero atoms, where X 0 is halogen and R 0 and R 00 are, independently of each other, H or optionally substituted C 1-40 carbyl or hydrocarbyl.

9. Compound according to claim 8 , wherein Ar a , Ar b and Ar c —if present—are independently of each other selected from the group consisting of formulae (D1), (D10), (D19), (A1) and (A19), wherein R 11 and R 12 are independently of each other hydrogen or fluorine.

10. Compound according to claim 1 , wherein the compound is selected from the group consisting of small molecule, monomer, oligomer and polymer.

11. A mixture or a blend comprising one or more compounds of claim 1 and one or more compounds or polymers having semiconducting, charge transport, hole transport, electron transport, hole blocking, electron blocking, electrically conducting, photoconducting or light emitting properties.

12. Formulation comprising the compound of claim 1 and an organic solvent.

13. Charge transport, semiconducting, electrically conducting, photoconducting or light emitting material comprising the compound of claim 1 .

14. A component or device comprising the compound of claim 1 , said component or device being selected from the group consisting of organic field effect transistors (OFET), thin film transistors (TFT), integrated circuits (IC), logic circuits, capacitors, radio frequency identification (RFID) tags, devices or components, organic light emitting diodes (OLED), organic light emitting transistors (OLET), flat panel displays, backlights of displays, organic photovoltaic devices (OPV), organic solar cells (O—SC), photodiodes, laser diodes, photoconductors, organic photodetectors (OPD), electrophotographic devices, electrophotographic recording devices, organic memory devices, sensor devices, charge injection layers, charge transport layers or interlayers in polymer light emitting diodes (PLEDs), Schottky diodes, planarising layers, antistatic films, polymer electrolyte membranes (PEM), conducting substrates, conducting patterns, electrode materials in batteries, alignment layers, biosensors, biochips, security markings, security devices, and components or devices for detecting and discriminating DNA sequences.

15. A component or device according to claim 14 , said component or device being selected from the group consisting of organic field effect transistors (OFET), thin film transistors (TFT), integrated circuitry (IC), radio frequency identification (RFID) tags, organic light emitting devices (OLED), organic light emitting transistors (OLET) and backlights of displays.

16. Compound according to claim 4 comprising a group M, which comprises the following structure:

*—U a m1 —Ar a m2 —U b m3 —Ar b m4 —Ar c m5 —*  (III)

wherein

U a and U b are independently of each other selected from the divalent unit selected from the group consisting of formulae (Ia);

Ar a , Ar b and Ar c are independently of each other aryl or heteroaryl different from U a and U b ;

m1, m2, m3 and m4 are independently of each other selected from the group consisting of 0, 1 and 2, with the provision that at least one of m1 and m3 is not 0; and

m5 is 0 or an integer from 1 to 10.