PolyMetal · Chiral One Dimensional Enchainment of Metals

Semiconducting polymers have enabled the development of highly successful technologies such as flexible solar cells and OLED displays. Advances in synthetic chemistry allow precise tailoring of the electronic properties of soluble and processable materials. In the coming decades, a transition to chiral versions of these materials could not only enable the emergence of new technologies, including spintronics and quantum computing, but also increase the energy efficiency of OLED displays by 100%. Existing strategies for developing chiral semiconducting polymers fall short in achieving the necessary performance levels for light polarization, especially when high energy conversion efficiency is required. This highlights the need for a new paradigm in macromolecular design.PolyMetal focuses on the fundamental aspects of chemical synthesis to produce an unseen class of processable chiral semiconductors. Specifically, PolyMetal will develop an innovative class of semiconducting polymers based on one-dimensional chains of metal atoms held in place by helically chiral polymers. To achieve the precise enchainment of metal atoms, we will develop a selective approach to synthesize phosphorus(III)-based polymers, which are highly sought-after for applications in energy conversion and nanomedicine. Selective catalysis will be employed to determine the chirality at the phosphorus(III) centers, introducing a new concept for the control of polymer tacticity and hence material properties. Upon metal coordination and enchainment, all centers of chiral information will actively participate in optical transitions and lead to helically arranged exciton coupled chromophores at a macromolecular scale thereby maximize the circular polarization of emitted light which we will assess in chiral OLEDs. Simultaneously, the use of metals will achieve quantitative energy efficiency thereby unifying high quantum yields with high chiroptical activity, an immense challenge that needs to be solved