Spectroscopic Studies of Polydiacetylenes

The complex morphology of most conjugated polymers prevents direct measurement, and hinders understanding, of their intrinsic properties. Such problems do not occur for the polydiacetylenes, which can be prepared as macroscopic single crystals. Since polydiacetylenes can also be obtained in less perfect forms the effects of disorder can be studied. Spectroscopic techniques have been widely used to study the intrinsic properties of polydiacetylenes and their modification by disorder. The results obtained by optical and electron spin resonance spectroscopy are discussed.