Disclosed herein are ladder polymers comprising fused aromatic and non-aromatic rings. Also disclosed are the manufacture and use of these ladder polymers, e.g., in separation membranes, such as membrane for gas separation.

The invention relates to polymers having at least one repeating unit of the following formula (I): wherein Ar.sup.1, Ar.sup.2, Ar.sup.3 and Ar.sup.4, R and X, and a, b, c, d, e and f can have the meanings defined in claim 1, to processes for the preparation thereof and to the use thereof in electronic or optoelectronic devices, in particular in organic electroluminescent devices, so-called OLEDs (OLED=Organic Light Emitting Diodes). The present invention also relates to electronic or optoelectronic devices, in particular organic electroluminescent devices, which contain said polymers.

A compound that has good solubility in a polar solvent and when it is used as an electrolyte in a catalyst layer of a polymer electrolyte fuel cell, the polymer electrolyte fuel cell exhibits good power generation characteristics is disclosed. The compound has a structure represented by the following general formula (I)

##STR00001## which contains at least one sulfonic acid group.

The invention relates to polymers having at least one repeating unit of the following formula (I): wherein Ar.sup.1, Ar.sup.2, Ar.sup.3 and Ar.sup.4, R and X, and a, b, c, d, e and f can have the meanings defined in claim 1, to processes for the preparation thereof and to the use thereof in electronic or optoelectronic devices, in particular in organic electroluminescent devices, so-called OLEDs (OLED?Organic Light Emitting Diodes). The present invention also relates to electronic or optoelectronic devices, in particular organic electroluminescent devices, which contain said polymers.

The present invention provides a polymer comprising a unit of formula, ##STR00001##
wherein R.sup.1 and R.sup.2 are independently from each other C.sub.1-30-alkyl, C.sub.2-30-alkenyl, C.sub.2-30-alkynyl, phenyl or a 5 to 8 membered heterocyclic ring system, wherein each of the C.sub.1-30-alkyl, C.sub.2-30-alkenyl or C.sub.2-30-alkynyl group may be substituted with 1 to 10 substituents independently selected from the group consisting of halogen, CN, NO.sub.2, OH, NH.sub.2, NH(C.sub.1-20-alkyl), N(C.sub.1-20-alkyl).sub.2, NHC(O)(C.sub.1-20-alkyl), S(O).sub.2OH, CHO, C(O)C.sub.1-20-alkyl, C(O)OH, C(O)OC.sub.1-20-alkyl, C(O)NH.sub.2, CO(O)NHC.sub.1-20-alkyl, C(O)N(C.sub.1-20-alkyl).sub.2, OC.sub.1-20-alkyl, OC(O)C.sub.1-20-alkyl, SiH.sub.3, SiH.sub.2(C.sub.1-20-alkyl), SiH(C.sub.1-20-alkyl).sub.2, Si(C.sub.1-20-alkyl).sub.3, C.sub.4-8-cycloalkyl, phenyl and a 5 to 8 membered heterocyclic ring system, and phenyl and the 5 to 8 membered heterocyclic ring system may be substituted with 1 to 5 C.sub.1-16-alkyl groups, is 1, 2 or 3 and n is an integer from 2 to 10'000, a process for the preparation of the polymer and an electronic device comprising the polymer.

Provided are: a macromolecular compound for providing an organic semiconductor material exhibiting excellent conversion efficiency; a starting-material compound having high material design freedom; and methods for producing the same.

The macromolecular compound according to the present invention comprising a benzobisthiazole structural unit represented by the formula (1):

##STR00001## [in the formula (1), T.sup.1 and T.sup.2 each independently represent an alkoxy group, a thioalkoxy group, a thiophene ring optionally substituted by a hydrocarbon group or an organosilyl group, a thiazole ring optionally substituted by a hydrocarbon group or an organosilyl group, or a phenyl group optionally substituted by a hydrocarbon group, an alkoxy group, a thioalkoxy group, an organosilyl group, a halogen atom or a trifluoromethyl group; and B.sup.1 and B.sup.2 each represent a thiophene ring optionally substituted by a hydrocarbon group, a thiazole ring optionally substituted by a hydrocarbon group, or an ethynylene group].

A method of fabricating a conjugated polymer may include alkylating a carbazole with an alkyl bromide, in a solvent mixture, to form an alkyl carbazole; brominating the alkyl carbazole to form an N-alkyldibromocarbazole; and reacting the N-alkyldibromocarbazole with a distanyl-biselenophene in the presence of a catalyst to form a conjugated polymer having repeating units of formula (5) ##STR00001##

Disclosed herein are ladder polymers comprising fused aromatic and non-aromatic rings. Also disclosed are the manufacture and use of these ladder polymers, e.g., in separation membranes, such as membrane for gas separation.

A copolymer including a structural unit represented by Chemical Formula 1, and a structural unit represented by Chemical Formula 2:

##STR00001## wherein in Chemical Formula 1 and Chemical Formula 2, R.sup.1, R.sup.2, R.sup.3, R.sup.4, R.sup.5, R.sup.6, R.sup.7, R.sup.8, L.sup.1, A.sup.1, A.sup.4, *, and *.sup.2 are the same as defined herein.