Rigidity-induced emission enhancement of network polymers crosslinked by tetraphenylethene derivatives

Abstract

In this paper, we prepared various network polymers with crosslinkers having two or four acryloyl groups derived from an AIE luminogen, and investigated the relationship between the rigidity of network polymers and emission behaviour. The crosslinkers showed representative AIE properties. A conventional radical polymerization with various vinyl monomers produced corresponding network polymers. The variation of vinyl monomers or the crosslinkers allowed us to obtain network polymers with different rigidities. Fluorescence spectroscopy of the network polymers revealed rigidity dependent emission enhancement accompanying the hypsochromic shift. In addition, the network polymer showed temperature and solvent dependent emission behaviour. The crosslinker with less crosslinkable substituents showed higher susceptibility toward the environmental conditions such as rigidity, temperature, and solvent.