In recent years, the application of fluorescent conjugated polymers for sensing chemical and biological analytes has received much attention from many researchers. A promising development in this direction was the fabrication of conducting polymer-based sensors for the detection of metal ions, small organic molecules and biomolecules. Herein, we have designed, synthesized and studied a series of copolymers containing alternate phenylene and 2,5- or 2,6-substituted pyridine rings. The basic N-atom of the pyridine ring and the adjacent –OH group from the phenyl ring provide binding sites for metal ions. Another series of water-soluble conjugated polymers with propoxy sulfonate side chains are investigated for biosensor applications. Significant quenching of the polymer fluorescence upon addition of viologen derivatives was also observed. The quenching effect on the polymer fluorescence confirmed that the newly synthesized polymers can be useful in the application of metal and biological sensors. / Singapore-MIT Alliance (SMA)

No description available.

Recent developments in the synthesis and structure-property investigation studies of conjugated polymers have led to the design of novel polymeric materials with tailored properties for advanced technological applications. A promising development in this direction involves the fabrication of conducting polymer based sensors for the detection of metal ions and small organic molecules. Herein, we designed, synthesized and studied a series of amphiphilic copolymers containing alternate phenylene and 2,5- or 2,6- or 3,5-substituted pyridine rings. The basic N-atom of the pyridine ring and the adjacent –OH group from the phenyl ring provide binding sites for metal ions. Thermal properties, and optical properties of polymers in presence of acid, base and metal ions are investigated. A few target polymers showed high sensitivities for metal ions in solution. / Singapore-MIT Alliance (SMA)

No / Photo-irradiation of poly para-phenylene terephthalamide (PPTA) fibre is normally associated with deterioration of physical properties. Nonwoven fabrics produced from 100% photo-irradiated PPTA fibres might therefore be expected to yield fabrics with poorer mechanical properties compared to those produced from non-irradiated fibres. To test this hypothesis, the bursting strength of hydroentangled fabrics manufactured from photo-irradiated PPTA fibres was explored. Prior to fabric manufacture, virgin PPTA staple fibres were photo-irradiated under controlled lighting conditions (xenon short arc lamp with a luminous flux of 13,000 lm) for 0, 5, 10, 20, 40, 60 and 100 h. The photo-irradiated fibres were then hydroentangled to produce nonwoven fabrics. Photo-irradiation exposure of PPTA fibre up to 30 MJ m 2 was not found to be detrimental to fabric bursting strength and at irradiation energies of 5e10 MJ m 2 a small, but statistically significant increase in fabric bursting strength was observed compared to fabrics manufactured from non-irradiated fibre. This may be linked to a change in the surface and skin properties of the PPTA photo-irradiated fibres identified by atomic force microscopy (AFM) following photoirradiation.

In der heutigen Zeit sind optoelektronische Bauelemente allgegenwärtig. Sie finden Anwendung für Beleuchtungszwecke, in Anzeigen und für die Telekommunikation. Die Entwicklung dieser Anwendungen wurde lange Zeit von anorganischen Halbleitern getragen, in jüngerer Vergangenheit auch von der organischen Elektronik. Neuerdings werden verstärkt Konzepte entwickelt, um die spezifischen Vorteile der jeweiligen komplementären Materialklassen auszunutzen. Für diese Hybridisierung müssen die Eigenschaften der verschiedenen Materialien, insbesondere die elektronische Struktur, genau auf einander abgestimmt sein. In dieser Arbeit werden Leiter-para-phenylene auf spektrale Überlagerung und angepasste Orbitalenergien mit ZnO, auf chemische Inertheit und auf die Bildung von dünnen Schichten über vakuumbasierte Verarbeitungsmethoden optimiert. Dazu konzentriert sich der synthetische Gesichtspunkt auf die selektive Funktionalisierung der verschiedenen Methylenbrücken mit Alkyl-, Aryl- und Fluorsubstituenten. Die finalen Stufen werden bezüglich ihrer optischen Eigenschaften mittels Absorption und Fluoreszenz, bezüglich ihrer elektrochemischen Eigenschaften und bezüglich ihrer Festkörperstruktur mittels Röntgenstrukturanalyse von Einkristallen charakterisiert. Außerdem widmet sich ein erheblicher Teil dieser Arbeit der Erforschung des photochemischen Abbaus von fluorenbasierten Strukturen. Es werden neue Erkenntnisse zum Abbaumechanismus und der Ursache der grünen Emission gewonnen. Weiterhin werden die Abbauraten von Fluorenstrukturen mit verschiedenen Brückensubstituenten verglichen. Dabei konnten auch verschiedene Reaktionsprodukte und Mechanismen nachgewiesen werden. Letztendlich wird auch die Anwendung einzelner Derivate in Hybridstrukturen diskutiert. / Nowadays optoelectronic devices are ubiquitous for illumination purposes, in telecommunication and displays. For a long time, the development for these devices was driven by inorganic semiconductors, later organic semiconductors contributed, as well. Recently concepts have been developed to combine both complementary material classes to exploit the specific advantages of each one. For the hybridization, the properties of the materials, especially the electronic structure, have to match very well. In this work the optimization of ladder-type p-phenylenes towards spectral overlap and energy level alignment with ZnO, vacuum-processability, inertness, as well as layer formation is described. In terms of molecular design the different properties are addressed by site-selective functionalization of the methylene bridges with alkyl, aryl, and fluoro groups. The final products are characterized regarding their optical properties by absorption and fluorescence, their electrochemical properties, as well as their solid-state structure by single crystal X-ray diffraction. Apart from that, a large part of the work is devoted to investigations of the photochemical degradation of fluorene-type structures. New insights are gained into the mechanism of degradation, as well as the origin of the green emission in ladder-type structures The dependence of the rate of degradation is described semi-quantitatively with respect to the substitution pattern. By that, different reaction mechanisms for different substituents are found. Finally, the integration of some products in hybrid structures is discussed.

Wir haben blau, grün und orange leuchtende organische Nanofäden oder Nanonadeln und Mikroringe aus para-Hexaphenyl (p-6P), alpha-Quaterthiophen (alpha-4T) und alpha-Sexithiophen (alpha-6T) mittels Organischer Molekularstrahlepitaxie (OMBE) auf Muskovit Glimmer hergestellt. Die Aggregate haben wir mit der Atomkraftmikroskopie, mit der Fluoreszenz-Mikroskopie und durch UV-vis Spektroskopie charakterisiert. Auf der Muskovit Oberfläche wachsen p-6P Fäden parallel zueinander auf und zeigen zwei verschiedene Orientierungsdomänen entlang [110] und [1-10]. Mit Hilfe einer systematischen statistischen Analyse diskutieren wir das Wachstum dieser p-6P Nadeln für verschiedene Wachstumsbedingungen. Zusätzlich zu den Fäden haben wir p-6P Cluster auf der Oberfläche beobachtet. Nadeln werden durch die Aggregation solcher Cluster gebildet. Ein Realraummodell der Morphologie der Nadeln sowie ein Modell für deren Wachstum werden vorgestellt. Indem wir Glimmer zunächst mit einer dünnen Goldschicht bedecken und die Wachstumsparameter variieren, erreichen wir eine weitgehende Kontrolle der Morphologie der Nadeln (Länge von 0,5 Mikrometer bis 1 mm, Höhe von 25 bis 300 nm und Breite von 100 bis 600 nm). Im Gegensatz zu p-6P orientieren Thiophene ihre Wachstumsrichtungen an allen hoch symmetrischen Richtungen von Glimmer. Es wird gezeigt, dass die Mechanismen für das Fadenwachstum von beiden Oligomere gleich sind, nämlich eine Kombination aus Epitaxie und einer Dipol-unterstützten Ausrichtung. Auch die Strukturen dieser Fäden sind ähnlich: die Moleküle liegen parallel angeordnet auf der Oberfläche, ihre Längsachsen orientieren sich schräg zur Längsachse der Fäden. Auf mit Wasser oder Methanol vorbehandeltem Glimmer wachsen diese beiden Oligomere als gebogene Fäden und Mikroringe auf. Diese Oberflächenvorbehandlungen sowie das Wachstum von p-6P auf Gold/Glimmer unterstützen auch den Wachstumsmechanismus auf der sauberen Glimmer-Oberfläche. / By using organic molecular beam epitaxy (OMBE) blue, green and orange light emitting organic nanofibers or nanoneedles and microrings from para-hexaphenyl (p-6P), alpha-quaterthiophene (alpha-4T) and alpha-sexithiophene (alpha-6T), respectively, on muscovite mica surfaces are generated. The aggregates are characterized by atomic force microscopy, fluorescence microscopy and UV-vis spectroscopy. On muscovite mica, p-6P fibers usually grow mutually parallel showing two domains of their orientations with an angle of 120 degree in between. The detail growth of nanofibers from p-6P by performing a systematic statistical analysis of fibers as a function of various growth conditions is discussed. Furthermore, the morphology exhibits p-6P clusters, which are found to be fibers´ building blocks. A real space model of the fiber and a model for their growth are also presented. By introducing a thin gold layer on mica prior to p-6P deposition together with varying growth parameters, the morphology of fibers is controlled in a wide range (length from 0.5 micrometer to 1 mm, height from 25 to 300 nm and width from 100 to 600 nm). In contrast to p-6P, thiophene fibers exhibit various orientations close to mica high symmetry directions. It is shown that the mechanism behind the fiber growth from all molecules on mica is the same, i.e. a combination of epitaxy and dipole assisted growth process. The fiber microscopic structures are similar, too: molecules take lying orientations and they hold themselves parallel pointing their long axes along an oblique direction off the long fiber axis. The growth of both types of oligomers on water or methanol treated mica surfaces leads to the formation of bent fibers and microrings. This surface pretreatment and the growth of p-6P on gold/mica support the fiber growth mechanism on plain mica.

There are two general ways to introduce functionalities into a polymeric structure: functionalization of the monomeric units before polymerization and postfunctionalization of the preformed polymer. Building libraries of polymers with different functionalities can be completed with significantly less effort by the second method, as each postfunctionalization of a single batch of polymeric backbone can involve as little as one synthetic step. One method of building a polymeric backbone for postfunctionalization involves the synthesis of hyperbranched conjugated polymers (HCPs) from AB2 monomeric units. A polymer formed from n AB2 monomeric units should contain n reactive B groups, which act as sites of functionalization. Utilizing this principle, two different hyperbranched poly(phenylene vinylene-phenylene ethynylene) scaffolds were synthesized and studied in both their inherent properties and functionalization. The first HCP synthesized was compared against a monomeric cruciform model and a linear polymer with a similar structure. The hyperbranched polymer has red-shifted absorption and emission in comparison to the cruciform model and linear polymer. The HCP quenches paraquat more efficiently than the linear polymer by a factor of about two, suggesting a greater rate of energy transfer. The functionalization of HCPs was studied; iodine groups decorating the HCPs were replaced with terminal alkynes by Pd-catalyzed coupling, providing a library of 24 differently functionalized HCPs. Elemental analyses of the postfunctionalized polymers show nearly complete substitution of the iodine groups. The postfunctionalized polymers show increased fluorescence compared to the original iodine decorated polymers, due to the loss of the heavy atom effect inducing iodine groups. The emissions of the postfunctionalized polymers in solution show a strong dependence on the groups attached to the conjugated structures, with emission maxima ranging from 505 nm to 602 nm; quantum yields range from 0.7% to 25%. Solid-state emission studies show stronger and more red-shifted spectra compared to emissions observed in solution.

Conductive polymers are also known as "organic metals" due to their semiconducting properties. They are found in a wide range of applications in the field of organic electronics. However, the growing number of experimental works is not widely supported with theoretical calculations. Hence, the field of conductive polymers is experiencing lack of understanding of mechanisms occurring in the polymers. In this PhD thesis, the aim is to increase understanding of conductive polymers by performing theoretical calculations.        The polymers poly(3,4-ethylenedioxythiophene) (PEDOT) together with its selenium (PEDOS) and tellurium (PEDOTe) derivatives, poly(p-phenylene) (PPP) and naphthobischalcogenadiazoles (NXz) were studied. Several computational methods were applied for analysis of mentioned structures, including density functional theory (DFT), tight-binding modelling (TB), and Car-Parrinello molecular dynamics (CPMD) calculations. The combination of CPMD and DFT calculations was applied to investigate the PEDOT, PEDOS and PEDOTe. The polymers were studied using four different functionals in order to investigate the full picture of structural changes, electronic and optical properties. Temperature effects were studied using molecular dynamics simulations. Wide statistics for structural and molecular orbitals analysis were collected.         The TB method was employed for PPP. The formation and motion of the excitations, polarons and bipolarons, along the polymer backbone was investigated in presence of electric and magnetic fields. The influence of non-magnetic and magnetic impurities was determined.        The extended π-conjugated structures of NXz were computed using B3LYP and ωB97XD functionals in combination with the 6-31+G(d) basis set. Here, the structural changes caused by polaron formation were analyzed. The combined analysis of densities of states and absorption spectra was used for understanding of the charge transition. / <p>QC 20170928</p>