Abstract
Earlier studies of conducting polymers focused on polyacetylene, (CH)
x, where extended conjugation lengths and crystallinity are present. We present here the results of a detailed study of temperature dependent magnetic susceptibility and ac and dc transport of [CHD
y] and [CHD
y
+zA
z
−]
x where A is oxygen and iodine and 0.02≤y≤0.17. The CHD
y introduce sp
3 defects along the otherwise sp
2 bonded polyacetylene chains and result in “segmentation” of the chain. Our results show that the presence of the sp
3 bonded carbons has only a moderate effect on the conjugation of the pi band of polyacetylene.