Hybridization of emitting polyfluorene with silicone

Abstract

Polyfluorenes with pendant allyl groups were prepared by terpolymerization of 9,9-dihexylfluorene-2,7-bis(trimethyleneborate), 2,7-dibromo-9,9-bis(2-allyloxyethyl)fluorene, and 4,7-dibromo-2,1,3-benzothiazole, or 4,7-dibromo-2,1,3naphthoselenadiazole using Suzuki coupling reaction. The subsequent hydrosilylation reaction of these precursor polymers with ethoxydimethylsilane quantitatively converted the allyl groups to ethoxysilyl groups. Hybridization of the emitting polyfluorenes with silicone was successfully achieved by the solvent-free sol-gel reaction of tetraethoxysilane and silanol-terminated polydimethylsiloxane in the presence of the ethoxysilyl-functionalized polyfluorenes. Fluorescence spectra of these luminescent silicones revealed that emitting polyfluorenes were dispersed homogeneously in the matrix of silicone without aggregation. V C 2014 Wiley Periodicals, Inc. J. Polym. Sci., Part A: Polym. Chem. 2015, 53, 622-628