Design, synthesis, and study of main chain poly(N-heterocyclic carbene) complexes: applications in electrochromic devices

A series of poly(N-heterocyclic carbene) complexes in which the carbene functionalities are orthogonally connected to the main chains of the respective polymers are prepared by oxidative electropolymerization of various bis(bithiophene)-substituted monomers with appended transition metal or main group entities (M = Ir, Au, Ag, S). Electrochemical analyses of the polymer thin films have shown that they have displayed highly reversible electrochromic phenomena.