Title: polysilanes
Long Title: IUPAC Gold Book - polysilanes
DOI: 10.1351/goldbook.08899
Status: current

Definition
Polymers composed of macromolecules containing exclusively silicon atoms in the backbone:  where \(\ce{R^{1}}\) and \(\ce{R^{2}}\) are each hydrogen or an alkyl, aryl or heteroaryl group (structure-based polymer class name).

Notes
1) Polysilanes were earlier named polysilylenes. A use of this term is discouraged.
2) Polysilanes are \(\upsigma\)-conjugated polymers which show a good photoconductivity, however, they degrade when exposed to UV light.

Example
 

Related Term
- conjugated polymers: https://goldbook.iupac.org//terms/view/08785

Source
- PAC, 2022, 94, 15. 'Glossary of terms relating to electronic, photonic and magnetic properties of polymers (IUPAC Recommendations 2021)' on page 60 (https://doi.org/10.1515/pac-2020-0501)

Other Outputs
- html: https://goldbook.iupac.org/terms/view/08899/html
- json: https://goldbook.iupac.org/terms/view/08899/json
- xml: https://goldbook.iupac.org/terms/view/08899/xml

Citation: Citation: 'polysilanes' in IUPAC Compendium of Chemical Terminology, 5th ed. International Union of Pure and Applied Chemistry; 2025. Online version 5.0.0, 2025. 10.1351/goldbook.08899
License: The IUPAC Gold Book is licensed under Creative Commons Attribution-ShareAlike CC BY-SA 4.0 International (https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-sa/4.0/) for individual terms.
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Disclaimer: The International Union of Pure and Applied Chemistry (IUPAC) is continuously reviewing and, where needed, updating terms in the Compendium of Chemical Terminology (the IUPAC Gold Book). Users of these terms are encouraged to include the version of a term with its use and to check regularly for updates to term definitions that you are using.
Accessed: 2026-05-08T13:14:17+00:00