In the field of electronic organic materials, conjugated polymers (CPs) have attracted much attention in recent years. It has been well-established that performances of thin-film devices based on π-conjugated polymers, such as light-emitting diodes, field-effect transistors and photovoltaic cells, are strongly dependent on the organisation of the polymer molecules and their interactions with other constituents in multicomponent devices. The use of CPs in integrated circuits, solar cells, light-emitting diodes or sensors often requires their covalent fixation and patterning on various surfaces. CPs can be grafted to functionalized surfaces by (electro)chemical cross-linking; however, it is difficult to control a structural order within the cross-linked films. The attachment of CP chains to substrates by their end-points to form polymer brushes would be an interesting alternative, and could possibly be crucial for many devices requiring charge injection and charge transport processes. The main aim of this work, which was the synthesis of covalently grafted conjugated polymer brushes on solid substrates using a "grafting from" approach, was successfully performed. During the course of this work, the process of surface-initiated polycondensation was investigated. The newly developed method to selectively graft conjugated polymers from different substrates such as Si-wafers, quartz slides or modificated nanoparticles allowed us to produce different architectures which were earlier possible to prepare only non-conductive polymers. Exposure of the substrate with an activated surface layer into the monomer solution produced polymer brushes in a very economical way. Since only monomer was consumed for grafting from the surface. The grafting process was extensively investigated by different methods, and the thickness of the obtained poly(fluorene) films was elucidated by Null-ellipsometry and confirmed by the AFM scratch-test. Preliminary characteristics of the device, based on PS(Br)-core poly(octylfluorene)-shell nanoparticles, showed satisfactory results (such as turn-on voltage and electroluminescence in a blue region). They could be improved by replacement of the insulating PS(Br)-core of nanoparticles with other substances (semiconductive, etc.). There is still plenty of room for further development and improvement of the synthesis of poly(fluorene)-based polymer brushes. The polymer structures developed in this work can be utilized as an active layer in lab-on-chip devices. Alkyl groups in the 9th position of the poly(fluorene) monomer unit can be replaced by tailored receptors to detect specific species including small molecules, metal ions and biomolecules due to enhanced sensitivity through sensory signal amplification. Post-polymerization modifications may lead to highly water-swellable conjugated polyelectrolyte brushes. Also, polymerization of initially optically active fluorene-monomers may be the crucial step to the generation of a light source devices with a large degree of circularly polarized electroluminescence. This is of great interest for utilization as backlight for liquid crystalline displays. We believe that the utilization of covalently surface-immobilized conjugated polymers may have a great impact on the development of present-day technological processes.

In the field of electronic organic materials, conjugated polymers (CPs) have attracted much attention in recent years. It has been well-established that performances of thin-film devices based on π-conjugated polymers, such as light-emitting diodes, field-effect transistors and photovoltaic cells, are strongly dependent on the organisation of the polymer molecules and their interactions with other constituents in multicomponent devices. The use of CPs in integrated circuits, solar cells, light-emitting diodes or sensors often requires their covalent fixation and patterning on various surfaces. CPs can be grafted to functionalized surfaces by (electro)chemical cross-linking; however, it is difficult to control a structural order within the cross-linked films. The attachment of CP chains to substrates by their end-points to form polymer brushes would be an interesting alternative, and could possibly be crucial for many devices requiring charge injection and charge transport processes. The main aim of this work, which was the synthesis of covalently grafted conjugated polymer brushes on solid substrates using a "grafting from" approach, was successfully performed. During the course of this work, the process of surface-initiated polycondensation was investigated. The newly developed method to selectively graft conjugated polymers from different substrates such as Si-wafers, quartz slides or modificated nanoparticles allowed us to produce different architectures which were earlier possible to prepare only non-conductive polymers. Exposure of the substrate with an activated surface layer into the monomer solution produced polymer brushes in a very economical way. Since only monomer was consumed for grafting from the surface. The grafting process was extensively investigated by different methods, and the thickness of the obtained poly(fluorene) films was elucidated by Null-ellipsometry and confirmed by the AFM scratch-test. Preliminary characteristics of the device, based on PS(Br)-core poly(octylfluorene)-shell nanoparticles, showed satisfactory results (such as turn-on voltage and electroluminescence in a blue region). They could be improved by replacement of the insulating PS(Br)-core of nanoparticles with other substances (semiconductive, etc.). There is still plenty of room for further development and improvement of the synthesis of poly(fluorene)-based polymer brushes. The polymer structures developed in this work can be utilized as an active layer in lab-on-chip devices. Alkyl groups in the 9th position of the poly(fluorene) monomer unit can be replaced by tailored receptors to detect specific species including small molecules, metal ions and biomolecules due to enhanced sensitivity through sensory signal amplification. Post-polymerization modifications may lead to highly water-swellable conjugated polyelectrolyte brushes. Also, polymerization of initially optically active fluorene-monomers may be the crucial step to the generation of a light source devices with a large degree of circularly polarized electroluminescence. This is of great interest for utilization as backlight for liquid crystalline displays. We believe that the utilization of covalently surface-immobilized conjugated polymers may have a great impact on the development of present-day technological processes.

We successfully synthesize three different tertiary amine phosphinoamine ligands, which are 1-(2-(dicyclohexylphosphino)phenyl)pyrrole (L2), N-(2-(dicyclohexylphosphino)phenyl) morpholine (L3), and N-(2-(diisopropylphosphino)phenyl)morpholine (L4) separately. With another referenced ligand o-(dicyclohexylphosphino)biphenyl (L1) as comparison and test the reactivities toward palladium and nickel by in situ method with the four different ligands. We test Kumada-Corriu coupling reactivity of different nickel precursors to L1, L2 and L3, surprisingly, we find that under room temperature, reaction of NiCl2(DME) as precursor and TMEDA (1.1 equiv.) as ligand to replace phosphinoamine ligands (L1¡BL2¡BL3) can effectively couple iododecane with hexyllmagnesium bromide, and the catalytic condition possesses quite high selectivity. This new Ni-catalyzed cross-coupling reactions employing secondary isopropylmagnesium chloride have led to the exclusive formation of linear isomerized cross-coupling products due to reinsertion after rapid £]-H elimination.

In this work, we report the study of the catalytic activity of newly prepared coordination compounds of nickel(II) (complexes were prepared by prof. Kyritsis, University of Athens). The activities in model reactions of Kumada and Suzuki coupling and polymerization of 2,5- dibromo-3-hexylthiophene were tested. For Kumada coupling, the activity is comparable with known complex [Ni(dppp)Cl2]. On the other hand, selected complexes exhibit only limited activity for Suzuki coupling. GRIM polymerization of 2,5-dibromo-3-hexylthiophene was successful. Properties of prepared polymers are comparable with polymers prepared via known route with [Ni(dppp)Cl2].

Thèse numérisée par la Division de la gestion de documents et des archives de l'Université de Montréal.

Thèse numérisée par la Division de la gestion de documents et des archives de l'Université de Montréal

A brief introduction explaining phosphine ligand properties, Pd catalysed cross-coupling reactions; the importance of the steps involved in the catalytic cycle (oxidative addition, transmetalation & reductive elimination), mechanistic studies and a comparison of various reactions will give an overview of important cross-coupling reactions and their limitations. The development of a “super-concentrated” (5M) Pd catalysed Kumada type coupling reaction has been developed for coupling a range of aryl bromide and chloride substrates with the Grignard reagents ((p-CF₃-C₆H₄)MgBr)) and PhMgBr in methyl-tetrahydrofuran (Me-THF). Using a range of bidentate ligands such as bis-phosphinoferrocenyl ligands, good conversions were achieved using small amounts of solvent; up to 10 times less than typical procedures in THF. The unsymmetrical Pt complexes of the form [Pt(P-P)Br₂], [Pt(P-P)(Ph)Br] and [Pt(P-P)Ph₂] have been synthesised and characterised. The variations of substituents on the ligand system and the steric bulk have been shown to have a dramatic effect on the rate of transmetalation. The results provide one explanation why 1,1’-bis(di tert-butylphosphino)ferrocene (dtbpf), an excellent ligand for certain Suzuki reactions, is quite poor in reactions where transmetalation is more difficult. Palladium dichloride complexes of the ferrocenylphosphine based ligands 1,1’-bis- (diphenylphosphino)ferrocene (dppf), 1,1’-bis-(diisopropylphosphino)ferrocene (dippf) and 1,1’-bis-(di-tert-butylphosphino)ferrocene (dtbpf) have been shown to be active in the Hiyama cross-coupling of p-bromoacetophenone and vinyltrimethoxysilane (CHCH₂Si(OMe₃)) in the presence of TBAF under thermal heating and microwave conditions. Ligands with the optimum balance for promoting the transmetalation, oxidative addition and reductive elimination steps along the reaction pathway have been identified. Competition experiments are consistent with slow transmetalation being an issue with the Hiyama reaction relative to the Suzuki coupling. A novel protocol has been developed for the synthesis of aryl-alkyl ethers via C-O bond activation under Pd catalysed conditions. Utilising the unsymmetrical 1-bis-(ditertbutyl-1’- bis-diphenylphosphino)ferrocene (dtbdppf) under optimised conditions with silicon based nucleophiles and NaOH or TBAF as an activator, the formation of methyl, ethyl, n-propyl and n-butyl ethers with a range of aryl halides was achieved in good yield.

La mise au point de nouvelles méthodes de synthèse flexibles, robustes et polyvalentes pour la formation régiosélective de liaisons carbone-carbone ou carbone-hétéroatome représente un défi perpétuel en chimie organique. Dans le cadre de nos travaux, nous avons développé des protocoles efficaces et faciles à mettre en œuvre portant sur l’activation de liaisons C-O catalysée par le nickel et la sulfénylation de liaisons C-H sans métal. Nous avons démontré que l’utilisation d’un système catalytique simple à base d’acétate de nickel(II) et d’oxyde de triphénylphosphine dans des conditions douces (40 °C) permettait de réaliser le couplage croisé entre un éther d’énol méthylique et un réactif de Grignard via l’insertion du Ni dans la liaison C OMe. Une réaction de sulfénylation électrophile de composés (hétéro)aromatiques a également été développée. L’emploi de N-thiosuccinimides comme partenaires soufrés, en présence d’acide trifluoroacétique, nous a permis de réaliser avec une très bonne régiosélectivité la sulfénylation d’aromatiques électro-enrichis. Cette méthode a également été appliquée à des indoles non protégés afin d’accéder à des 2-thioindoles fonctionnalisés. / The development of new flexible synthetic methods for the regioselective formation of carbon carbon or carbon-heteroatom represents an ongoing challenge in organic chemistry. The work presented in this manuscript concerns the development of efficient and easy to implement protocols on nickel-catalyzed C-O bond activation and metal-free C-H sulfenylation.It was demonstrated that the use of a single catalytic system based on nickel(II) acetate and triphenylphosphine oxide under mild conditions (40 ° C) could perform the cross-coupling between an alkenyl methyl ether and a Grignard reagent via the insertion of the Ni catalyst into the C-OMe bond. An electrophilic sulfenylation reaction of (hetero)aromatics has also been developed. The use of N thiosuccinimides as sulfenylating partners, in the presence of trifluoroacetic acid, allowed us to achieve with a very good regioselectivity the sulfenylation of electron-rich aromatics. This method was also applied to unprotected indoles in order to access functionalized 2 thioindoles.