Dimethylformamide

First, 2-(Trimethylsililoxy)ethyl methacrylate and 2-hydroxyethyl methacrylate (HEMATMS and HEMA, Aldrich) were dried under molecular sieves. Second, 2-(N,N,N-Trimethylammonium)ethyl methacrylate chloride (ChMA, Aldrich, St. Louis, MI, USA) as an 80% solution in water was dried under reduced pressure until a constant weight was achieved. Rhodamine B chloride (RhB, POCH S.A.), bipyridine (bpy, Sigma-Aldrich) and α-bromoisobutyryl bromide (Sigma-Aldrich, St. Louis, MI, USA) were used without purification. Copper(I) bromide (Sigma-Aldrich) was purified as described in [38 (link)]. Methanol, tetrahydrofuran (THF), dimethylformamide (DMF) and other solvents were purchased from Chempur and stored under molecular sieves.

3,4-Dimethoxythiophene (>97%), p-toluenesulfonic acid monohydrate (p-TSA, 98%), and magnesium sulfate (anhydrous 99.5%) were all purchased from Fluorochem (Derbyshire, UK). Triethylamine (TEA, >99.5%), 3-aminopropyl-trimethoxysilane (APTES, 98%), α-bromoisobutyryl bromide (BIB, 98%), 1,1,4,7,10,10-hexamethyltriethylenetetramine (HMTETA, 97%), copper(II) bromide (99.999%), copper(I) bromide (99.999%), and DMF (>99.9%) were purchased from Sigma-Aldrich (St Louis, MO, USA). Dichloromethane (DCM, p.a.), chloroform (p.a.), toluene (p.a.), dimethylformamide (DMF, p.a.), tetrahydrofuran (THF, p.a.), methanol (p.a.), ethanol (99.9%), hydrogen peroxide (30% p.a.), and ammonia solution (30% p.a.) were all purchased from Chempur (Piekary Slaskie, Poland). Hydrochloric acid (35–38% p.a.) was obtained from POCH S. A. (Gliwice, Poland). 1,1,1-Tris(hydroxymethyl)ethane (>98%) was obtained from TCI Co. (Tokyo, Japan). Iron(III) chloride (99.5%) was purchased from Lab-Scan (Gliwice, Poland). Distilled chloroform and methanol used for sample purification after oxidative polymerization were additionally dried under molecular sieves (0.3 nm, Merck, Darmstadt, Germany) before use. The rest of the chemicals were used as received.