The reaction of dilithiobutadiyne (or the corresponding di-Grignard reagent) with various dichlorosilanes and dibromogermanes in THF at room temperature afforded poly[(silylene)diacetylenes] and poly[(germylene)diacetylenes], respectively, in high yields. The polymers have a regular alternating arrangement of diyne and silylene or germylene units. When they are doped with FeCl3, these polymers show conductivity values in the range 10r5-10r3 S-cm'1. The values depend greatly on the electronic character of the substituents bonded to silicon or germanium.

Scholarship, and we are indebted to the Center for Information Science (University of Auckland) and to IBM New Zealand Ltd. for providing large amounts of computer time.Supplementary Material Available: Tables of thermal parameters and all bond lengths and angles for 2a (5 pages); a table of observed and calculated structure factors (15 pages). Ordering information is given on any current masthead page.

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