A Glucose-Selective Fluorescent Water-Soluble Hyperbranched Polymer Sensor With Boronic Acid End Groups

We have synthesized water-soluble hyperbranched poly(p-phenylene)s having boronic acid groups capable of reacting with diol-containing saccharides. The polymerization was carried out by palladium-catalyzed Suzuki cross-coupling reaction using tribromo monomer for the preparation of hyperbranched type structure. The water-soluble hyperbranched polymer HP exhibited much higher sensitivity toward glucose compared with the linear polymer LP presumably due to the difference in the number of the boronic acids which are present in the end groups of the polymers.