This Brief presents for the first time a detailed historical overview of the development of
acetylene polymers beginning with the initial discovery of acetylene in 1836 and continuing up
through the 2000 Nobel Prize in Chemistry. The polymerization of acetylene is most commonly
associated with polyacetylene which was found to be conductive when treated with oxidizing
agents such as Br2 or I2 in the mid-to-late 1970s. In fact under the right conditions
oxidized polyacetylenes can exhibit conductivities into the metallic regime thus providing the
first example of an organic polymer exhibiting metallic conductivity. As a consequence the
2000 Nobel Prize in Chemistry was awarded to Hideki Shirakawa Alan MacDiarmid and Alan Heeger
for this pioneering research the award citation reading for the discovery and development of
electrically conductive polymers. Because of this most incorrectly view polyacetylene as well
as conducting polymers in general to originate in the 1970s. In this work the author examines
the polymerization of acetylene from early thermal polymerization studies to the ultimate
production of the fully conjugated polyacetylene. Although true polyacetylene was not
successfully produced until the 1950s by Giulio Natta the polymerization of acetylene dates
back to 1866 with the work of Marcellin Berthelot. These initial efforts were continued by a
range of scientists to produce a polymeric material collectively given the name cuprene in 1900
by Paul Sabatier. Between the initial cuprene studies and the production of true polyacetylene
two related materials were also studied usually referred to as polyenes and polyvinylenes.
Although both of these materials could be thought of as forms of polyacetylene neither was
actually generated from the direct polymerization of acetylene. Readers will gain insight into
the fact that polyacetylene and conducting organic polymers have a much longer history than
commonly believed and involved the work of a significant number of Nobel Laureates.
