Abstract
AbstractNew water‐soluble hyperbranched polyfluorenes bearing carboxylate side chains have been synthesized by the simple “A2 + B2 + C3” protocol based on Suzuki coupling polymerization. The linear polyfluorene analogue LPFA was also synthesized for comparative investigation. The optical properties of the neutral precursory polymers in CHCl3 and final carboxylic‐anionic conjugated polyelectrolytes in buffer solution were investigated. The obtained hyperbranched polyelectrolyte HPFA2 with lower content of branch unit (2%) showed excellent solubility and high fluorescence quantum yield (ϕF = 89%) in aqueous solution. Fluorescence quenching of HPFA2 by different metal ions was also investigated, the polyelectrolyte showed high selectivity for Hg2+ and Cu2+ ions relative to other various metal ions in buffer solution. The Stern‐Volmer constant Ksv was determined to be 0.80 × 106 M−1 for Hg2+ and 3.11 × 106 M−1 for Cu2+, respectively, indicating the potential application of HPFA2 as a highly selective and sensitive chemosensor for Hg2+ and Cu2+ ions in aqueous solution. © 2010 Wiley Periodicals, Inc. J Polym Sci Part A: Polym Chem 48: 3431–3439, 2010
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