title: The colors of polydiacetylenes: a commentary.
abstract: Polydiacetylenes (PDA) can take several colors, mostly "red" and "blue", and blue-to-red color transitions are usually considered as transitions from a well ordered state to a disordered one. Recent work on single isolated PDA chains shows that this is not correct: red chains can be quasi-perfect quantum wires. The transition is between two different chain conformations, and each may, or may not, be perfectly ordered. Disorder, when it occurs, is a side-product of the transformation.
authors.affiliation: Institut des Nanosciences de Paris UMR 7588-CNRS, France. Michel.Schott@insp.jussieu.fr
authors.forename: Michel
authors.initials: M
authors.lastname: Schott
mesh_terms: D000114:Acetylene / Q000737:chemistry*; D003116:Color; D008968:Molecular Conformation; D011108:Polymers / Q000737:chemistry*
chemical_list: D011108:Polymers; D000114:Acetylene