Development of a robust and versatile new synthetic method for organic electronics

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Since its beginning, the field of semiconducting polymers has evolved at a fast pace; thanks to polymerization procedures developed by Stille, Suzuki, Kumada and Negishi. New procedures are continuously developed to improve the quality of the materials available to manufacturers in the rapidly growing market of organic electronic devices. Such a procedure, offering the advantages of higher yields, fewer synthetic steps and better purity of the final material, has been developed in Mario Leclerc research group at Université Laval. Patent applications have been filed for this procedure called DHAP. This project aims at confirming that it can be versatile and still provide, in a very reproducible and robust manner, polymers of exceptional quality. The funding requested is 124 966 $ over one year. An experienced postdoc will be hired, as well as a part-time research assistant. A market survey was conducted in May and June by a specialized firm. It concluded that there was an interesting market demand and that a start-up company could be created to fulfill these needs. The survey even found three companies clearly expressing interest in buying semiconducting organic materials from the eventual start-up in the future. Two letters from academia express support for the eventual launch a start-up. However, the present project focusing on the versatility of the procedure and the demonstration of a stable product quality must first be executed before commercialisation can begin on solid ground. SOVAR, the university commercialisation company for Université Laval, is involved in the present project and will make its multidisciplinary team available to Prof. Leclerc to ensure the success of this pre-competitive development project.