Nonconjugated Polyesters Emitting Full-Color Clusteroluminescence

Area of Science:

• Materials Science
• Polymer Chemistry
• Photophysics

Background:

• Conventional photoluminescent polymers often use classical luminophores, posing risks like biotoxicity and poor processability.
• Emerging clusteroluminescence (CL) in heteroatom-rich nonconjugated polymers offers advantages such as low cost, biocompatibility, and improved processability.
• Developing full-color CL polymers and understanding their mechanisms are crucial for advancing chemistry, biology, and material science.

Purpose of the Study:

• To summarize research on nonconjugated polyesters for high-efficiency full-color CL.
• To explore structure-driven through-space (n, π*) interaction (TSI-(n, π*)) as a new design strategy for CL polymers.
• To provide deeper insights into CL mechanisms, molecular design, and structure-luminescence relationships in polyesters.

Main Methods:

• Utilized polymerization-induced emission (PIE) strategy to synthesize luminescent polyesters from nonluminescent monomers.
• Investigated structure-luminescence relationships by altering polyester hierarchical structures (segmental, conformational, end-group, electronic bridge).
• Analyzed subnanometer TSI-(n, π*) and photomodulated through-space electronic coupling for CL mechanism elucidation.

Main Results:

• Achieved high-efficiency full-color CL spanning 400-800 nm (blue to near-infrared) in nonconjugated polyesters.
• Demonstrated tunable CL properties (wavelength and efficiency) by manipulating TSI-(n, π*) through hierarchical structural control.
• Established a new paradigm for designing nonconjugated CL polymers via structure-driven TSI-(n, π*).

Conclusions:

• Nonconjugated polyesters offer a promising platform for developing advanced CL materials.
• TSI-(n, π*) is a key mechanism for achieving high-efficiency, full-color emission in these polymers.
• Further development of CL polyesters holds potential for diverse applications in chemistry, biology, and material science.