Incorporation of chromophores into dendrigraft polybutadiene: effect of dendrigraft matrix on the fluorescent properties

Abstract

This paper demonstrated fluorescence behaviour of two novel coumarin-containing dendrigraft polybutadienes (PB-Cou) with linear-comb (LC-PB-Cou) and star-comb (SC-PB-Cou) architectures. LC-PB-Cou and SC-PB-Cou with 12–13 mol% coumarin content were synthesized via the combination of anionic polymerization and “click” chemistry methodology. The photophysical behaviours were investigated based on UV-Vis spectroscopy and fluorescence spectroscopy. The tailor-made LC-PB-Cou and SC-PB-Cou were designed to possess almost identical branching parameters except for architecture. The results of the study suggested that the fluorescent properties of coumarin were improved after being introduced into the dendrigraft polymer. The fluorescence quantum yield (Φ_F) of LC-PB-Cou (7.3%) and SC-PB-Cou (5.4%) significantly increased, compared with that of coumarin itself (1.7%). Furthermore, LC-PB-Cou had the advantage over SC-PB-Cou in fluorescent properties because of its looser conformation.