Synthesis of [CH₂C(CO₂Et)₂CH₂Ar]_n polymers and their unique optical properties by through‐space interactions between Ar and CO groups

Abstract

Polymers of type [CH2C(CO2Et)2CH2Ar]n (Ar = 1,4‐phenylene, 2,6‐naphthylene, 9,10‐anthrylene, or 1,4‐phenylene‐ethynylene‐1,4‐phenylene) were synthesized by alkylation of diethyl malonate with XCH2ArCH2X (X = Cl or Br). These polymers exhibited unexpectedly enhanced UV absorption and strong, broad, bathochromically shifted fluorescence spectra compared with the parent Ar compounds. The origin of these photophysical characteristics was postulated to be a configuration interaction between the π→π* excitation of the aromatic moiety and the n→π* excitation of the carbonyl moiety on the trimethylene tether via intramolecular charge transfer. © 2012 Wiley Periodicals, Inc. J Polym Sci Part A: Polym Chem, 2012