Synthesis and photophysical properties of poly(aryleneethynylene)s bearing dialkylsilyl side substituents

A series of poly(aryleneethynylene)s bearing dialkylsilyl (–SiR2H) side substituents has been synthesized by Sonogashira cross-coupling reactions of 1,4-diethynyl-2,5-bis(dialkylsilyl)benzene and diiodoarylene compounds. Their photophysical properties in solution have been studied. All of the polymers showed intense fluorescence with high quantum yield. Compared with their analogues containing para-phenylene units, the polymers with meta-phenylene units in the main chain showed absorption and emission maxima at shorter wavelengths, whereas the polymers having thiophenylene units in their backbones showed bathochromically shifted spectra. For polymers having the same conjugated parent backbone, silyl substituents have been found to exert negligible effect on their photophysical properties.