| Abstract
| - A novel conducting polymer poly(o-dihydroxybenzene) (PoDHB) film was synthesized electrochemically bythe direct anodic oxidation of o-dihydroxybenzene (oDHB) in boron trifuoride diethyl etherate. The oxidationpotential onset of PoDHB in this medium was measured to be only 0.66 V versus a saturated calomel electrode(SCE), which was much lower than that determined in acetonitrile containing 0.1 mol L-1 tetrabutylammoniumtetrafluoroborate (1.1 V vs SCE). PoDHB films obtained from this medium showed good electrochemicalbehavior and good thermal stability. IR, NMR, and theoretical studies showed that the polymerization ofoDHB occurred at the 4,5-position, which made PoDHB a derivative of polyacetylene. The PoDHB film wasthoroughly soluble in the strong polar organic solvents dimethyl sulfoxide, ammonia, and tetrahydrofuranand partly soluble in pure ethanol. Fluorescent spectral studies indicated that PoDHB was a good blue-lightemitter, with an excitation wavelength maximum of 350 nm. The thermoelectric properties of as-formedPoDHB were also determined. In comparison with oDHB, the electrochemical polymerization of its isomersm-dihydroxybenzene, p-dihydroxybenzene, and hydroxybenzene failed under the same conditions. To thebest of our knowledge, this is the first paper reporting that high-quality conducting polymer films of PoDHBcan be electrodeposited.
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