The application of 3,3'-diphenyl-2,2'-bithiophene as a helical scaffold capable of electrochemical polymerization to yield the corresponding polythiophene is reported. One unique feature of this monomer is its theoretically predicted (DFT) ability to mimic redoxstimulated contraction and expansion. This ability, coupled with traditional electromechanical actuation properties of bulk, redox-active conjugated polymers (CPs), yields a polymeric "molecular muscle" capable of both contraction and expansion.Keywords: electromechanical actuation; polythiophene; helicity; diphenylbithiophene; molecular muscle.The generation of motion, referred to also as actuation, results from free-energy transduction caused by a chemical, electronic, or electromagnetic stimulus [1]. An elegant actuating system developed by Nature is skeletal muscle. Muscles are composed of 1D filaments, bound together by van der Waals (VDW) interactions into bundles of fibers. The filaments, containing copper(II/I) centers and phosphate ligands, are set into motion by chemical signal, which initiates a reversible actuation (chemomechanical actuation).Actuators composed of conjugated polymers (CPs) serve as non-natural surrogates of biological muscle. The systems act as electromechanical actuators (EMAs, a.k.a. "molecular muscles") via redoxinduced counterion adsorption and expulsion. For example, oxidation of a bulk CP sample requires an influx of charge-balancing counterions and solvating species. The intercalated species have a defined volume, which results in the oxidized CP to have a volume greater than the neutral CP. This reversible volume change can be utilized to perform work. Note that the mechanism invoked by traditional CP-EMAs relies on ion and solvent intercalation, thus is not intrinsic to CP strands [2]. Often, this mechanism leads to degradation of the life and rate of faradaic conducting polymer actuators [2]. Recent efforts in the field of molecular actuators have focused on investigating and expanding upon the properties and behavior of electrolytes [3].A different approach would be to augment the actuation resulting from redox-induced ion-intercalation (bulk actuation) with CPs that are capable of intrinsic actuation [4][5][6][7][8][9][10]. Specifically, if each repeat unit of a polymer was capable of redox-induced conformational change that results in a change in volume and/or length, then intrinsic actuation could act to augment bulk actuation. Preferably, intrinsic actuation would be active in the "light-doping regime" of the polymer, where "light doping" implies that the polymer is oxidized to a state less than that corresponding to the observed peak anodic current (I p,a , as determined from cyclic voltammetry). This strategy may help remedy degradation problems resulting from high CP oxidation states ("heavy doping").