Issue 7, 2019

Synthesis and folding behaviour of poly(p-phenylene vinylene)-based β-sheet polychromophores

Abstract

This contribution describes the design and synthesis of β-sheet-mimicking synthetic polymers comprising distinct poly(p-phenylene vinylene) (PPV) and poly(norbornene) (PNB) backbones with multiple turns. The rod–coil–coil–rod tetrablock copolymers, synthesized using ring-opening metathesis polymerization (ROMP) and featuring orthogonal face-to-face π–π stacking and phenyl/perfluorophenyl interactions, show persistent folding both in bulk and at the single molecule level, irrespective of the number of β-turns. Single molecule polarization studies reveal that the copolymers are more anisotropic than the corresponding homopolymers. Examination of the spectral signatures of the single molecules shows a dominant emissive chromophore in the linked materials compared to the homopolymer. The lack of significant spectral changes of the folded materials along with the existence of a dominant emission spectrum supports the proposed structure of well-aligned, minimally-interacting chromophores. Utilization of this reliably folding, phenyl/perfluorophenyl functionality could provide an extremely useful tool in future functional materials design.

Graphical abstract: Synthesis and folding behaviour of poly(p-phenylene vinylene)-based β-sheet polychromophores

Supplementary files

Article information

Article type
Edge Article
Submitted
15 Nov 2018
Accepted
10 Dec 2018
First published
20 Dec 2018
This article is Open Access

All publication charges for this article have been paid for by the Royal Society of Chemistry
Creative Commons BY-NC license

Chem. Sci., 2019,10, 2144-2152

Synthesis and folding behaviour of poly(p-phenylene vinylene)-based β-sheet polychromophores

E. Elacqua, G. T. Geberth, D. A. Vanden Bout and M. Weck, Chem. Sci., 2019, 10, 2144 DOI: 10.1039/C8SC05111A

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