Approaches to Superparamagnetic Polycarbenes and Polynitrenes

Poly(m-phenylenemethynyls) and other conjugated polymers to which photolabile diazo or azido groups are attached in every repeating unit have been synthesized. When photolyzed and studied in situ by means of a Faraday balance equipped with a light guide at cryogenic temperatures, the hexa- and nonacarbenes obtained by stepwise synthesis were found to be in S = 6 and 9 ground states, respectively. Attempts to sythesize real polymer samples capable of showing S = 10 2∼3 were made. These materials would serve as prototypes for organic opto-magnetic recording devices.