Abstract
Polyacetylene can be synthesized enriched in either cis or trans structure content through varying the temperature of polymerization1. Cis rich polyacetylene is readily isomerized to the trans configurations by heating2. Such polyacetylene contains a large number of unpaired spins3,4 and the paramagnetism has been attributed to a topological soliton5, corresponding to a defect in a long-chain polyalkene at which point the Π-wave function amplitude vanishes. Polyacetylene prepared at a low temperature, however, and which has never been exposed to oxygen or subjected to heating and should have a nearly pure cis configuration, has been found to lack an EPR signal. We therefore, report here that soliton formation and configurational isomerization are intimately related, and suggest an explanation for both mechanisms.
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Chien, J., Karasz, F. & Wnek, G. Soliton formation and cis trans isomerization in polyacetylene. Nature 285, 390–392 (1980). https://doi.org/10.1038/285390a0
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DOI: https://doi.org/10.1038/285390a0
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