Amino-Substituted para-Phenylenevinylenes (PPVs) as Platforms for Fluorescent Sensing Materials

Summary: Soluble para-phenylenevinylenes (PPVs) with amino side groups and different spacers have been synthesized. Photophysical properties showed that these compounds emitted light in blue region when dissolved in methanol. They have been designed in order to be platforms for attaching different functional groups to the amino units. Molecule 5 was a model compound which showed a quantum efficiency of 52% in methanol. Different spacers were added to the model compound to yield molecules 6 and 7 . The preliminary experiment showed that molecule 5 can interact with various metal ions in solution phase. The interaction was observed by the changes of fluorescent emission intensity of the molecule. This molecule will be further functionalized to be more specific in binding certain metal ions.