Chiral dendritic polymers for photonic applications

We present chiral dendrons of different generations accomplished by reacting the hydroxyl groups at the chain ends with (−)menthoxyacetic acid. Subsequent deprotection of the carboxylic acid rendered acid functional chiral dendrons. The acid-functionalized chiral dendrons were doped with divalent cations Cu2+, Fe2+ and Zn2+, and trivalent lanthanide cations Nd3+ and Pr3+. We present results on their optical rotatory power along with circular dichroism spectroscopy and results of paramagnetic resonance. The chiral dendrons were shown to influence the electronic transitions of the metal ions (CD spectra). Attempts to characterize the circularly polarized luminescence of the Nd-dendrimer failed due to low quantum yield. The luminescence efficiency was found to be at least one order of magnitude lower than that of a fluorinated and non-chiral dendrimer structure of similar size and coordination structure.