Conventional fluorophore-free dual pH- and thermo-responsive luminescent alternating copolymer
Herein, we report the synthesis of a new class of traditional fluorophore-free dual pH- and thermo-responsive fluorescent copolymer through sequence-controlled copolymerization of rationally designed monomers. The N -substituted maleimide monomer bearing a diethylene oxide side-chain, ( N -(methoxy...
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Published in | Polymer chemistry Vol. 7; no. 45; pp. 6895 - 6900 |
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Main Authors | , , , , |
Format | Journal Article |
Language | English |
Published |
01.01.2016
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Subjects | |
Online Access | Get full text |
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Summary: | Herein, we report the synthesis of a new class of traditional fluorophore-free dual pH- and thermo-responsive fluorescent copolymer through sequence-controlled copolymerization of rationally designed monomers. The
N
-substituted maleimide monomer bearing a diethylene oxide side-chain, (
N
-(methoxy diethylene glycol) maleimide, M1), was copolymerized with a
tert
-butyl carbamate (Boc)-protected leucine appended styrenic monomer (M2) to obtain well-defined copolymers with perfectly alternating sequences of M1 and M2. The as-synthesized copolymers displayed bright-blue fluorescence in organic solvents. After Boc-group expulsion, the copolymers showed dual pH- and thermo-responsiveness, they retained their luminescence properties in organic solvents, and also showed pH/thermo-tunable fluorescence activity in water. The origin of the fluorescence in the copolymers was ascertained using density functional theory (DFT), where we observed that the “through-space” π–π interaction between the benzene ring and the neighbouring carbonyl group of the maleimide unit is responsible for the unexpected fluorescence in the alternating copolymer. |
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Bibliography: | ObjectType-Article-1 SourceType-Scholarly Journals-1 ObjectType-Feature-2 content type line 23 |
ISSN: | 1759-9954 1759-9962 |
DOI: | 10.1039/C6PY01738J |