Highly conductive new aniline copolymers: poly(aniline‐co‐aminoacetophenone)s

Copolymers of aniline and o‐/m‐aminoacetophenone of different compositions were synthesized by oxidative chemical copolymerization. Two different methods were employed, emulsion and inverse emulsion, with different oxidants, ammonium persulphate and benzoyl peroxide, to study the effect of synthesis conditions on the yield, solubility and conductivity of the copolymers. The copolymer compositions were determined using proton NMR spectroscopy. The reactivity ratios determined by the Finemann–Ross method indicate lower reactivity for m‐aminoacetophenone relative to aniline in the emulsion method, while the reverse holds true in the inverse emulsion method. Copolymers formed by the former pathway are random type as determined by the Finemann–Ross method. The copolymers have crystalline/amorphous morphologies and good conductivity. They exhibit enhanced solubility compared with polyaniline.