Recent progress on polymerization‐induced emission

Abstract

The aggregate luminescence behaviors of polymeric luminescent materials have been attracting great attention. However, the importance of the polymerization process on luminescence, namely, polymerization‐induced emission (PIE), has rarely been overviewed. In this review, recent advances in polymerization with PIE effects are summarized, including PIE with aromatic rings based on one‐/two‐/multi‐component polymerizations, and PIE without aromatic rings according to disparate mechanisms of polymerizations. Typical examples are selected to elaborate the basic design principles, as well as the properties and potential applications of the luminous polymers. Moreover, the challenges and perspectives in this area are also discussed.

Clickable Polymerization‐Induced Emission Luminogens Toward Color‐Tunable Modification of Non‐Traditional Intrinsic Luminescent Polymers

“…[ 18–20 ] Compared with those traditional strategies for luminescent polymers, polymerization‐induced emission (PIE) has become an emerging strategy for the molecular design of luminescent polymers without traditional luminogens. [ 21–26 ] Interestingly, the monomer and repeating unit of polymer are non‐emissive; however, the resulting polymer is luminescent, where the smallest or simplest non‐emissive moiety is regarded as PIE luminogen (PIEgen). For example, the introduction of the Barbier reaction into polymer chemistry for the development of Barbier polymerization of different carbonyl, ester, and aldehyde monomers results in a series of NTIL polymers with adjustable emission wavelengths through PIE strategy of a series of phenylmethanol‐containing PIEgens.…”

“…[ 38 ] Currently, PIE strategy has been widely demonstrated as a versatile strategy for the design of NTIL polymers in different polymerization systems, including Friedel–Crafts reaction and Michael polyaddition. [ 26,39–42 ] Wu and coworkers successfully utilized PIE strategy to prepare well‐defined bottlebrush luminescent polymers with controlled molecular weights by living polymerization. [ 26,40 ] Yan and coworkers synthesized a hybrid luminescent material based on the β‐diketone‐contained hyperbranched polysiloxane, exhibiting aggregation‐induced emission (AIE) characteristics with novel PIEgen.…”

“…[ 26,39–42 ] Wu and coworkers successfully utilized PIE strategy to prepare well‐defined bottlebrush luminescent polymers with controlled molecular weights by living polymerization. [ 26,40 ] Yan and coworkers synthesized a hybrid luminescent material based on the β‐diketone‐contained hyperbranched polysiloxane, exhibiting aggregation‐induced emission (AIE) characteristics with novel PIEgen. [ 43 ] Even through PIE has gained progresses, modifiable PIEgen has been rarely reported yet.…”