title: Synthesis of a fluorescent polymer bearing covalently linked thienylene moieties and rhodamine for efficient sensing.
abstract: A novel conjugated polymer (RB-PPETE) of poly[p-(phenylene ethynylene)-alt-(thienylene ethynylene)] (PPETE) bearing covalently linked thienylene rings and Rhodamine B units has been synthesized and successfully used to detect metal ions. The Rhodamine B exists as a lactone, which is colorless and non-fluorescent. Hg(2+) ions can induce the Rhodamine group to form a ring-opened state. The fluorescence resonance energy transfer (FRET) was demonstrated in the polymer, and in the presence of Hg(2+) ions the excitation energy along the backbone of the conjugated polymer is transferred to the energy acceptor (Rhodamine B), which leads to a visual color change of the solution from slight yellow to orange. Meanwhile, this new system shows outstanding Hg(2+) -selective FRET off-on type fluoroionophoric properties among the representative metal ions in tetrahydrofuran.
authors.affiliation: Beijing National Laboratory for Molecular Sciences (BNLMS), CAS Key Laboratory of Organic Solids, Institute of Chemistry Chinese Academy of Sciences, Beijing 100190, P. R. China; Graduate School of Chinese Academy of Sciences, Chinese Academy of Sciences, Beijing, 100190, P. R. China.
authors.forename: Mei
authors.initials: M
authors.lastname: Zhu
authors.forename: Chunjie
authors.initials: C
authors.lastname: Zhou
authors.forename: Yingjie
authors.initials: Y
authors.lastname: Zhao
authors.forename: Yongjun
authors.initials: Y
authors.lastname: Li
authors.forename: Huibiao
authors.initials: H
authors.lastname: Liu
authors.forename: Yuliang
authors.initials: Y
authors.lastname: Li