No abstract

Luminescent cyano-substituted distyrylbenzene derivatives were synthesized via Knoevenagel condensation reactions. By using these compounds as initiators, a series of rod-coil polymers were synthesized by the atom transfer radical polymerization of methacrylate containing hole transporting carbazole moiety in high yields except the initiator with dicyanovinyl end groups. Molecular weight up to 37000 and polydispersity indices not exceeding 1.6 were obtained. Photoluminescent spectra revealed the aggregation of the rod parts in the solid state. The rod parts containing fluorinated alkyl groups were further aggregated by the heat treatment. The contact angle measurements suggested the fluoro alkyl groups dominated the film surface in the aggregation process. Microporous films with the open pore diameter of 1.1 or 3.7 µm were fabricated by casting the polymer solution under a moist air flow. Transmission spectrum showed the dip originated from the periodic arrangement of micropores.

Hybrids consisting of a microporous film and polymeric microspheres were fabricated via a simple method without a special apparatus. Highly ordered microporous polymer films with honeycomb structure were fabricated by a dissipative process utilizing amphiphilic poly(acrylic acid)block-polystyrene, which was synthesized by atom transfer radical polymerization followed by an acid-catalyzed ester cleavage reaction. In order to embed the microsphere efficiently, the dried microporous films should be soaked in methanol to alter the surface functionality and to improve the wettability of the film surface. The introduction of amino functionality to polystyrene microspheres by seeded polymerization of N,N-dimethylaminoethyl methacrylate drastically improved the embedding efficiency. The effect of open pore size was also investigated.