The Preparation and Fluorescence of Conjugated Polymer Nanoparticles with Triphenylamine Derivatives

Abstract

The conjugated polymers TEB1 and TEB2 were synthesized by Wittig and Wittig-Horner reaction, and the conjugated polymer nanoparticles CPNs1 and CPNs2 were prepared by reprecipitation method with TEB1 and TEB2, respectively. Moreover, the morphology and fluorescence of CPNs were investigated. The synthetic results indicated that the average molecular weight was improved effectively by Wittig-Horner reaction. CPNs2 with a higher average molecular weight showed a better feature and bright fluorescence. Introduction Owing to their large π-conjugated backbone and delocalized structure, conjugated polymers (CPs), a kind of fluorescent material with high fluorescence quantum yields and outstanding photostability [1, 2], have been widely applied in material science, biology and chemistry fields. At present, CPs can be divided into PF, PPV, PPE [3] and their derivatives in terms of the backbone structure difference. And palladium-catalyzed coupling reactions (Suzuki coupling, Heck coupling and Sonogashira coupling) tend to be used to prepare CPs [3]. Moreover, nanoparticles based on CPs show greatly potential applications in biosensor and optoelectronic device, and so on [4]. Conjugated polymer nanoparticles (CPNs) have attracted a board attention from home and abroad scholar because of their easy synthesis, less toxicity and more biocompatibility [5]. In the past few years, their preparation methods and functional modifications have been explored [6-8]. In this paper, novel fluorescent conjugated polymers (TEB) were synthesized by Wittig and Wittig-Horner reaction, and the average molecular weight was improved effectively by Wittig-Horner reaction. The CPNs1 and CPNs2 were prepared by reprecipitation method with TEB1 and TEB2, respectively. Furthermore, the morphology and fluorescence of CPNs were investigated.