Macromolecules, Vol.51, No.9, 3487-3496, 2018
Supramolecular Fluorescent Polymers Containing alpha-Cyanostilbene-Based Stereoisomers: Z/E-Isomerization Induced Multiple Reversible Switching
Photoresponsive materials play an important role in smart sensors and readable optical devices. The alpha-cyanostilbene moiety gathers Z/E-isomerization, mesogenic, and aggregation-induced enhanced emission (AIEE) properties together and can be considered as a multifunctional building block bearing luminogen, AlEgen, mesogen, and chromphore characteristics. Here, we report isomerization induced a series of notable reversible switching based on alpha-cyanostilbene containing hydrogen-bonded supramolecular polymers. Z and E-stereoisomers of dendritic alpha-cyanostilbene derivatives (Z-CNBP and E-CNBP) were hydrogen-bonded with poly(4-vinylpyridine) (P4VP), giving rise to P4VP(Z-CNBP)(x) and P4VP(E-CNBP)(x). P4VP(Z-CNBP)(x) exhibit a hexagonal columnar (Phi(h)) phase at 0.4 <= x <= 1.0, while the lamellar phase could be formed for P4VP(E-CNBP)(x) at 0.3 <= x <= 0.7. P4VP(Z-CNBP)(0.8) shows photothermal E/Z-isomerization induced reversible switching, including phase structures, surface topographies, birefringence, and fluorescence properties, whereas P4VP(E-CNBP)(0.5) exhibits enhanced fluorescence emission upon UV irradiation.