Fluorescence Enhancement of the Water- Soluble Poly{1,4-phenylene-[9,9-bis- (4-phenoxybutylsulfonate)]fluorene-2,7-diyl} Copolymer in n -Dodecylpentaoxyethylene Glycol Ether Micelles (original) (raw)

Interest is increasing in water-soluble conjugated polymers in areas such as chemical/biological sensors 1,2 and self-assembly systems. 3 In addition, introduction of ink jet printing for fabricating light-emitting diode (LED) displays 4 will increase demand for these waterbased systems. Marked changes in fluorescence occur on adding surfactants. 1b,2c Both surfactant complexation 1b and breakup of polymer aggregates 2c have been proposed as explanations. The high fluorescence yields and blue emission of polymers involving 2,7-linked fluorene units make them among the most attractive classes of conjugated polymers for devices 5 and good candidates for the above applications. We report the effect of the nonionic n-dodecylpentaoxyethylene glycol ether (C 12 E 5 ) on properties of the water-soluble poly{1,4-phenylene-[9,9-bis(4-phenoxybutylsulfonate)]fluorene-2,7-diyl} copolymer (PBS-PFP, ). The polymer (M h n ) ∼6500 g mol -1 ) was synthesized by condensation of 2,7dibromo-9,9-bis(4-sulfonylbutoxyphenyl)fluorene (A) and 1,4-phenylenediboronic acid using Pd(PPh 3 ) 4 as catalyst.