Light-driven fluorescence enhancement of phenylazo indazole-terminated polystyrene

The well-defined phenylazo indazole-terminated polystyrene (PS) was successfully prepared via reversible addition-fragmentation chain transfer (RAFT) polymerization of styrene (St) mediated by a novel chain transfer agent (CTA) bearing phenylazo indazole moieties in the Z group, benzyl-5-(4-(dimethylamino)phenylazo) indazole-1-carbodithioate (BPCD). The fluorescence emission of BPCD and the phenylazo indazole-terminated PS in chloroform (CHCl3) before and after the 365 nm ultraviolet irradiation was investigated. Interestingly, the fluorescence intensities of BPCD and the phenylazo indazole-terminated PS in CHCl3 were both sensitive to the 365 nm ultraviolet irradiation. The fluorescence intensities of these solutions increased with the irradiation time and reached maximum at 110 min. The light-driven fluorescence enhancement of BPCD and the phenylazo indazole-terminated PS were both attributed to the formation of spherical aggregate originated from the trans–cis isomerization of azobenzene moieties in BPCD and PS chain, which was confirmed by transmission electron microscopy (TEM), 1H NMR, UV and dynamic light scattering (DLS) spectra.