ELECTRIALLY-CONDUCTING POLYMERS MODELLED ON BIOPOLYMERS

WE WILL FOCUS ON THE DESIGN, PREPARATION, AND CHARACTERIZATION OF A SERIES OF ORGANIC POLYMERS WHICH WILL HAVE CONDUCTING CAPABILITIES COMPARABLE TO THOSE OF POLYACETYLENE, AN EXTREMELY CONDUCTIVE, YET UNSTABLE, ORGANIC POLYMER. THESE POLYMERS ARE TO HAVE INHERENT STRUCTURAL PROPERTIES OF ALIGNMENT AND STABILITY MODELLED AFTER NATURALLY OCCURING POLYMERS SUCH AS PROTEINS. UTILIZING INTUITIVE DESIGN METHODS AND LITERATURE PRECEDENT, POLYMER SEQUENCES EXPECTED TO FOLLOW THE TEMPLATES OF "NATURAL" BIOPOLYMERS WILL BE SELECTED. SUCH BIOPOLYMERS WILL BE PREPARED BY BULK POLYMERIZATION OF THE APPROPRIATE SUBUNITS, AS WELL AS DIRECT DERIVATIZATION OF PREPOLYMERIZED TEMPLATES. BIOPOLYMERIC MATERIALS, AS EXEMPLIFIED BY THE BROAD CLASS OF POLYMERS KNOWN AS "POLYPEPTIDES", ARE POTENTIALLY ELECTRICALLY CONDUCTIVE BY VIRTUE OF EITHER THEIR DIRECT OR THEIR INDIRECT BIOLOGICAL FUNCTIONS. THE MOLECULAR ORGANIZATIONAL TENDENCIES OF MOST POLYPEPTIDES TO ORDERED STRUCTURES CAN BE CITED AS AN ADDITIONAL JUSTIFICATION FOR THE POTENTIAL TOWARD ELECTRICAL CONDUCTIVITY. THE PROPOSED WORK WILL INVESTIGATE THE POTENTIAL FOR ELECTRICAL CONDUCTIVITY OF POLYPEPTIDES BY IMPOSING STRINGENT REQUIREMENTS UPON THE MOLECULAR STRUCTURE.