Triphenylamine‐based fluorescent conjugated copolymers with pendant terpyridyl ligands as chemosensors for metal ions

Abstract Two well‐defined triphenylamine‐based fluorescent conjugated copolymers with pendant terpyridyl ligands were synthesized through Suzuki coupling polymerization and were further characterized by 1H‐NMR, 13C‐NMR, gel permeation chromatography, Infrared, and UV‐vis spectra. Polymer P‐1, terpyridine‐bearing poly(triphenylamine‐alt‐fluorene) with a high fluorescence quantum yield (62%) shows much higher sensitivities toward Fe3+, Ni2+, and Cu2+ as compared with the other metal ions investigated. Especially, Fe3+ can lead to an almost complete fluorescence quenching of polymer P‐1. Whereas, the analogous polymer P‐2, in which N‐ethylcarbazole repeat units replace the fluorene units in P‐1, shows a very poor selectivity. It demonstrates that polymers with a same receptor may show different sensitivity to analytes owing to their different type of backbones. © 2010 Wiley Periodicals, Inc. J Polym Sci Part A: Polym Chem 48: 1310–1316, 2010