TECHNOLOGY FOCUS - INORGANIC CHEMISTRY - Preferred Component: The manganese (II) halide is manganese fluoride, manganese chloride, manganese bromide, and/or manganese iodide. The metal catalyst is a nickel (II) catalyst which is or is derived from nickel oxide, nickel fluoride, nickel chloride, nickel bromide, nickel iodide, nickel arsenide, and/or barium-nickel-sulfide. It may be a Pd (0) catalyst which is or is derived from Pd(AsPh3)4 (not defined), Pd(SbPh3)4 (not defined), tetrakis(trifluorophosphine)-Pd (Pd(PF3)4), Pd(PF3)2, Pd tetracarbonyl and/or Pd cyanide.    TECHNOLOGY FOCUS - ORGANIC CHEMISTRY - Preferred Component: The organometallic reagent is a Grignard reagent, a Grignard-ate complex, an alkyl lithium reagent, an alkyl lithium cuprate, an alkyl aluminum reagent, or an organozinc reagent, where the organozinc reagent is RZnX, R2ZnX, or R3ZnM. The aromatic or heteroaromatic group is benzene, thiophene, pyrrole, furan, aniline, phenylene vinylene, thienylene vinylene, bisthienylene vinylene, acetylene, fluorene, arylene, isothianaphthalene, p-phenylene sulfide, thieno(2,3-b)thiophene, thieno(2,3-c)thiophene, thieno(2,3-d)thiophene, naphthalene, benzo(2,3)thiophene, benzo(3,4)thiophene, biphenyl, or bithiophenyl. The aromatic or heteroaromatic group has zero to three substituents other than halogen. Each zero to three substituents is 1-24C alkyl, 1-24C alkylthio, 1-24C alkylsilyl, or 1-24C alkoxy that may be optionally substituted with one to five ester, ketone, nitrile, amino, aryl, heteroaryl, or heterocyclyl groups, carbon atom(s) of the alkyl chain of the alkyl group may be optionally exchanged by one to ten O, S, or NH groups. The metal catalyst is a nickel (II) catalyst which is or is derived from 1,2-bis(diphenylphosphino)ethane nickel (II) chloride, 1,3-diphenylphosphinopropane nickel (II) chloride, dibromo bis(triphenylphosphine) nickel, 1,5-cyclooctadienebis(triphenyl)nickel, dichloro(2,2'-dipyridine)nickel, tetrakis(triphenylphosphine)nickel, and/or nickel-2,6-dimethylphenol.R=2-12C alkyl;M=Mg, Mn, Li, Na or K; andX=F, Cl, Br, or I.    TECHNOLOGY FOCUS - POLYMERS - Preferred Component: The conducting polymer is regioregular homopolymer, regiorandom homopolymer, regioregular copolymer, or regiorandom copolymer. It is homopolymer formed from the first dihalo-monomer or a copolymer formed from the two dihalo-monomers. It is an unsubstituted polythiophene homopolymer, a poly(3-substituted-thiophene) homopolymer, a poly(3-substituted-thiophene) copolymer, a poly(3,4-disubstituted-thiophene) homopolymer, a poly(3,4-disubstituted-thiophene) copolymer, or a copolymer comprising unsubstituted thiophene, 3-substituted-thiophene, and/or 3,4-disubstituted-thiophene. The metal catalyst is a palladium (Pd) (0) catalyst which is or is derived from tetrakis(triphenylphosphine)-Pd (Pd(PPh3)4), polymer-bound Pd(PPh3)4, Pd(PEtPh2)4 (not defined), Pd(PEt2Ph)4 (not defined), Pd(P(OR)3)4, Pd(P(4-MeC6H4)3)4, Pd(CNR)4, Pd(R-C=C-R), Pd(1,2-bis(diphenylphosphino) ethane)2, Pd(1,5-cyclooctadiene)2, and/or Pd(4,4-dicarboxy-5-(pyridoxyl-5'-phosphate-proline))2.R=aliphatic, aryl or vinyl group. EXAMPLE - A flask was charged with 2,5-dibromo-3-hexylthiophene (8.15 g) and tetrahydrofuran (50 ml). It was cooled in an ice-bath. With stirring at 0 degrees C, cyclohexylmagnesium chloride (12.5 ml) was slowly added into the flask. After being stirred at 0 degrees C for 10 minutes, manganese chloride (50 ml) was added to the reaction mixture, which was warmed to room temperature over 20 minutes. Stirring was discontinued and solids settled to the bottom of the reaction vessel. Without transferring the solids, the reaction solution was cannulated to a flask containing Ni(dppe)Cl2 (0.04 g) in tetrahydrofuran (10 ml) at room temperature. The resulting mixture was stirred at room temperature for 24 hours. A dark-purple precipitate gradually formed over the course of the 24 hours. The mixture was poured into methanol (100 ml). The resulting dark precipitate was filtered, washed with methanol, and then dried under high vacuum. The regioregularity of the polythiophene obtained was 87% as determined by H-NMR analysis. The average weight molecular weight of the regioregular HT poly(3-substituted-thiophene) was 40000-60000 as determined by gel permeation chromatography using a polystyrene standard in tetrahydrofuran. Light-scatting analysis indicated the average weight molecular weight was 80000-120000.