Synthesis and spectroscopic characterization studies of low molecular weight light emitting PPV segmented copolymers

Abstract New tuneable segmented alternating copoly(p-phenylene vinylene) (PPV) derivatives were chemically synthesised via the Wittig polycondensation reaction. The chemical and optical properties in solution and in solid state were evaluated. The absorption and photoemission spectra show that incorporating an ethane dioxy spacer limits the conjugation length and produces a blue emitting copolymer, poly[1,2-ethane dioxy 2-methoxy-1,4-phenylene-vinyl 1,4-phenylene-vinyl 3-methoxy 1,4-phenylene] (EDO-PPV-1) 1. A red shift in the copolymer emission was achieved by adding an electron-donating group, a hexoloxy-substituted PPV segment, poly[1,2-ethane dioxy 2-methoxy-1,4-phenylene-vinyl 2,5-dihexoloxy 1,4-phenylene-vinyl 3-methoxy 1,4-phenylene] (EDO-PPV-2) 2. The photophysical properties of these block copolymers was compared with the fully conjugated copolymer poly[2-methoxy-5-(2′-ethyl-hexyloxy)-1,4-phenylene vinylene] (MEH-PPV) 3. The absorption band of the πdeloc– π deloc ∗ transition at 400–500 nm is limited in 1 and 2 indicating that the conjugation is effectively interrupted. The effect of torsional motions on the Stokes shift in these segmented copolymers is discussed. The photoluminescence (PL) efficiency and lifetime of 1 and 2 is different, indicating that the contribution from additional non-radiative decay channels due to interchain interactions is significant. The steady state and time-resolved photophysical characteristics of the thin film form of the copolymers indicates a high order of stacking in copolymer 1 and strong interchain interaction leading to strong excimer emission which may be ascribed to the low folding degree and planarity of the copolymers chemical structure. The spectroscopic time-resolved analysis confirms the interchain interaction.