Early history of polypyrrole: The first conducting organic polymer

The discovery that the conductivity of conjugated organic polymers can be controlled via redox processes has led to materials that combine the electronic properties of inorganic semiconductors with the weight and density of plastics. As such, these materials have been studied extensively and their importance recognized with the awarding of the 2000 Nobel Prize in chemistry to Alan Heeger, Alan MacDiarmid, and Hideki Shirakawa. This award stemmed from their work on conducting polyacetylene via doping with oxidants, which they carried out in the late 1970s. While these studies produced the most dramatic results, investigations of conjugated polymeric materials date back to the early 1960s, with the first organic polymer of significant conductivity being polypyrrole as reported by Donald Weiss and coworkers in Australia. The development of polypyrrole materials will be presented beginning with the first report of pyrrole's polymerization in 1922 through the more well-known work of Diaz and coworkers in 1979.