Polymer Assemblies with Nanostructure-Correlated Aggregation-Induced Emission

Abstract

The correlation of aggregation-induced emission (AIE) to the nanostructure of polymer assemblies was investigated. A series of AIE-active PDMA-b-P(BzMA-TPE) [PDMA: poly(N,N-dimethylaminoethyl methacrylate); P(BzMA-TPE): poly[benzyl methacrylate-co-1-ethenyl-4-(1,2,2-triphenylethenyl)benzene]] assemblies with controlled nanostructures were prepared via polymerization-induced self-assembly of BzMA and TPE, an AIEgen, in the presence of PDMA macro-chain-transfer agents. We found that the fluorescence intensity and fluorescent quantum yield increase in the order of vesicles > wormlike micelles > spherical micelles. For spherical micelles and vesicles, the AIE effect strengthens with increase in micellar size and wall thickness, respectively. As the AIE effect indicates the packing compactness of the AIEgens, the discovered structure-correlated emission can be attributed to the stress variation of polymer chains in the aggregates. AIE is therefore potentially useful as a probe for the investigation and understanding of nanostructure and evolution process of polymer self-assemblies.