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Selective Fluorescence Quenching in Cationic Fluorene‐Thiophene Diblock Copolymers for Ratiometric Sensing of Anions
Author(s) -
Fonseca Sofia M.,
Galvão Rita P.,
Burrows Hugh D.,
Gutacker Andrea,
Scherf Ullrich,
Bazan Guillermo C.
Publication year - 2013
Publication title -
macromolecular rapid communications
Language(s) - English
Resource type - Journals
SCImago Journal Rank - 1.348
H-Index - 154
eISSN - 1521-3927
pISSN - 1022-1336
DOI - 10.1002/marc.201200734
Subject(s) - fluorene , cationic polymerization , thiophene , copolymer , quenching (fluorescence) , fluorescence , photochemistry , bromide , iodide , conjugated system , chemistry , materials science , polymer chemistry , polymer , inorganic chemistry , organic chemistry , physics , quantum mechanics
Abstract The cationic, all‐conjugated AB diblock copolymer poly[9,9‐bis(2‐ethylhexyl)fluorene]‐ b ‐poly[3‐(6‐trimethylammoniumhexyl) thiophene] bromide (PF2/6‐ b ‐P3TMAHT) shows dual fluorescence from the poly(fluorene) (PF) and poly(thiophene) (PT) blocks. A comparison of fluorescence quenching of the cationic PT block fluorescence with unquenched PF block provides a sensitive ratiometric method for anion sensing. The application to analysis of halide ions, single‐ and double‐stranded DNA is demonstrated. High selectivity is observed with halide ions, with the strongest quenching being seen with iodide. The quenching with DNA can be used for nucleic acid quantification at sub‐μM concentrations.