Quenching of water soluble conjugated polymer by electrostatic interaction

Abstract

The water-soluble conjugated polymer with fluorescence quenching as a result of electrostatic interaction and aggregation was synthesized through Suzuki polymerization. The absorption and emission of anionic polymer (a-PFP) is blue shifted as compared with cationic polymer (c-PFP) although getting same backbone, and the absolute PL quantum efficiency of a-PFP in water is over 90% due to good solubility in aqueous solution. We anticipate that the fluorescence quenching of anionic and cationic polymers, with same conjugated backbone, could be shown in aqueous solution.