I recently synthesized a derivative of thiophene-3-carboxamide, called N-(3-imidazol-1-ylpropyl)thiophene-3-carboxamide (NITC). The molecular structure is shown below. My objective is to polymerize this NITC monomer to produce a polymer known as poly(NITC) using a standard oxidative polymerization method. The chosen oxidant for this system is Iron(III) p-toluenesulfonate (Fe(Tos)3), with chloroform serving as the solvent.

To the best of my knowledge, I understand that thiophene derivatives like 3,4-Ethylenedioxythiophene and 3-hexylthiophene readily undergo polymerization in the presence of an iron oxidant at room temperature. However, my attempts to polymerize the NITC monomer at room temperature have been unsuccessful. Could the imidazole moiety in my synthesized monomer be slowing down the oxidative polymerization reaction? If so, would the solution be to increase the amount of oxidant or elevate the reaction temperature to expedite the process?

In addition, I am also curious about the effect of the amide group in the NITC monomer on the polymerization reaction.

Thank you.