| Research detailed in this work examines the effect of combining inorganic compounds with polymeric materials. The first chapter introduces the reader to terms and ideas not in common knowledge. Chapter 2 relates the influence of an organometallic moiety on a conjugated polymer's electrochemical and spectroelectrochemical properties. The remaining chapters deal with the synthesis, isolation, and characterization of lanthanide coordination complexes, whose ultimate use will be the production of near infrared light. The first complexes examined for this purpose, were the lanthanide tris β diketonates. Following that discussion is a discourse on the properties of lanthanide tetraphenylporphyrin and phthalocyanine complexes. These complexes have been shown, by work performed in our labs, to be superior to the diketonate complexes for the production of near infrared light. Specific details are provided on how these complexes were generated and characterized. Additionally, the performance of these complexes in electroluminescent devices is reported and the influence of the macrocycles on the production of near infrared light is demonstrated. Finally, details are provided on attempts to generate near infrared luminescent polymers with lanthanide complexes directly incorporated into or onto the polymer backbone. |
