Polyfuran (PFu) is a polymer that consists of multiple furanylene rings. Such materials are of interest for their potential in

molecular electronics Molecular electronics is the study and application of molecular building blocks for the fabrication of electronic components. It is an interdisciplinary area that spans physics, chemistry, and materials science. It provides a potential means to ...

, although much less studied than

polythiophene Polythiophenes (PTs) are polymerized thiophenes, a sulfur heterocyclic compound, heterocycle. The parent PT is an insoluble colored solid with the formula (C4H2S)n.Strictly speaking, "polythiophene" is a misnomer, since the polymer consists of ...

s and

polypyrrole Polypyrrole (PPy) is an organic polymer obtained by oxidative polymerization of pyrrole. It is a solid with the formula H(C4H2NH)nH. It is an intrinsically conducting polymer, used in electronics, optical, biological and medical fields. Histor ...

s. Polyfuran is distinct from

furan resin Furan resin refers to polymers produced from various furan compounds, of which the most common starting materials are furfuryl alcohol and furfural. In the resin and in the cured polyfurfurol, the furan rings are not connected by conjugation. T ...

s, a class of non-conjugated polymers. Furan resins are of commercial interest, in contrast to polyfuran. Polyfurans can be prepared by electrochemical approaches. The mechanism of polymerization is proposed to involve

radical cation Radical cations are denoted M^. Salts of these species have been isolated in the cases of dibenzocyclooctatetraene, various tertiary amines, and some polymethylated derivatives of azulene. Radical cations, like radical anions, have one unpaire ...

intermediates, i.e. species with the formula C₄R₄O⁺. Polyfurans can also be produced using

acid catalyst In acid catalysis and base catalysis, a chemical reaction is catalyzed by an acid or a base. By Brønsted–Lowry acid–base theory, the acid is the proton (hydrogen ion, H+) donor and the base is the proton acceptor. Typical reactions catalyz ...

Radical polymerization In polymer chemistry, radical polymerization (RP) is a method of polymerization by which a polymer forms by the successive addition of a radical to building blocks ( repeat units). Radicals can be formed by a number of different mechanisms, usu ...

has also been explored, and oxidative cationic polymerization.

References

{{reflist Organic polymers Furans