14.03 - Conjugated Poly(metalla-ynes)

Over the last decade the chemistry of conjugated poly (metalla-ynes) has developed substantially because of the usefulness of these materials in a range of applications including as sensors, memory devices, catalysts and biologically active materials. These metalla-yne polymers and their molecular precursors contain late heavy transition elements linked by conjugated aromatic groups. The inclusion of the heavy transition elements, such as platinum and gold, affords these material useful electronic properties not found in analogous organic complexes through access to electronically excited triplet states. In this chapter the synthesis and characterization of these poly (metalla-ynes) is described, and their applications discussed.