EFFECT OF SOLID STATE POLYMERIZATION ON PROCESSABILITY POLY(PHTHALOCYANINATOGERMOXANE).

Poly(phthalocyaninatogermoxane) (GeOPc)//n is an important new polymer because the solids it forms are electronic conductors. These materials are processed by wet spinning from lyotropic solutions in triflic acid. It is shown that its solid state polymerization step is key to getting solutions which will successfully make highly conducting fibers. This is because its ability to introduce chemical defects and its ability to control molecular weight distribution affect, in turn, the physical chemistry of its solutions. The partitioning of molecular sizes between isotropic and lyotropic phases is essentially governed by the molecular weight distribution. It is further shown that the molecular weight distribution is more broad than would be expected from simple condensation polymerization kinetics. The reason for this is due to the broad distribution of extents of polymerization that exists throughout the original monomer crystals. The control of chain orientation in the resulting wet-spun fibers is dominated by the fraction of largest chains which form during conversion to high polymer.