Photofluorescence of hyperbranched poly(phenylene sulfide)

We synthesized hyperbranched poly(phenylene sulfide) (HPPS) in a simple “one‐pot” way by condensation of potassium 2,4‐dichlorlbenzenthiol. The molecular masses (M_w) of the polymers obtained under the conditions of this work were from 6 × 10³ to 1 × 10⁵. XRD pattern indicated substantial loss in crystallinity in HPPS. There was a minimum in the relation of intrinsic viscosity of HPPS in tetrahydrofuran (THF), determined by Ubbelohde viscometer, to molecular mass. Thermal analysis revealed that the HPPSs were very stable with the onset degradation temperature above 400 °C, and remaining weight of about 60% at 800 °C in nitrogen. The maximum emission wavelength of HPPS in THF was about 460 nm, which would red‐shift with the increase of molecular mass or concentration. The quenching behavior of the fluorescence in HPPS quenched by Cu²⁺ obeyed the Stern–Volmer equation, , where F₀ and F are the fluorescence intensity at the reference condition free of quencher and at condition with a quencher concentration of C_Cu²⁺, respectively, and k is a constant. The quenching efficiency was still as high as about 20% at Cu²⁺ concentration of about 10 ppm. © 2006 Wiley Periodicals, Inc. J Polym Sci Part B: Polym Phys 44: 826–831, 2006