Radiation 2006. In association with the Polymer Division, Royal Australian Chemical Institute. Incorporating the 21st AINSE Radiation Chemistry Conference and the 18th Radiation Biology Conference, conference handbook

Full text: Long conjugated molecules may serve as conduits for transport of charge or electronic excitation however, little is known about the factors that affect the rate of charge and exciton transport through these. Pulse radiolysis has been used to form radical cations, anions and triplet excited states of poly(arylene ethynylene)s as well as monodisperse pyridinium-based and platinum phenylene ethynylene oligomers. Poly(arylene ethynylene) triplet excited states are produced in very low yields by direct photoexcitation, but they are easily produced by photosensitization or by pulse radiolysis. The electronic properties of the species formed, including the delocalisation length of the radical/excitation were characterized by UV-vis-NIR absorption and the energetics of the polymers were investigated in bimolecular charge/energy transfer equilibria. In the poly(phenylene ethnylene) holes and triplet excited states were rapidly (k > 108 s- 1) transported to appended terthiophene (T3) end-caps. It was found that the incorporation of platinum atoms into the poly(phenylene ethynylene) increases the confinement of excitons and charges in these molecules