Arylamino‐functionalized fluorene‐ and carbazole‐based copolymers: Color‐tuning their CdTe nanocrystal composites from red to white

Four alternating arylamino-functionalized copolymers were synthesized in a Suzuki copolymerization applying 4, 4'-(2,7-dibromo-9H-fluorene-9,9-diyl)dianiline, 4,4'-(2,7-dibromo-9H-fluorene-9,9-diyl)bis(N,N-diphenylaniline), 4-(3,6-dibromo-9Hcarbazol-9-yl)aniline and 4-(3,6-dibromo-9H-carbazol-9-yl)-N,N-diphenylaniline in combination with 2,2'-(9,9-dioctyl-9H-fluorene-2,7-diyl)bis(1,3,2-dioxaborinane). The resulting novel alternating copolymers were fully characterized. The copolymers revealed blue light emission and wide optical bandgaps of at least 2.93 eV for the fluorene-based and 3.07 eV for the carbazole-based polymers. The amino-functions allow to tie semiconducting CdTe nanocrystals (NCs) and to synthesize a series of composites with CdTe NCs. Moreover, tuning the emission color over a wide range by tying these CdTe NCs results in a facile preparation of organic-inorganic semiconductor composites with emission colors "a la carte." (C) 2010 Wiley Periodicals, Inc. J Polym Sci Part A: Polym Chem 49: 392-402, 2011