Fluorescent labeling of a narrow polydispersity high molecular weight polystyrene

Narrow polydispersity polystyrene with a molecular weight of 1.03×10⁶ has been functionalized with anthracene groups using the metallocene technique. Side reactions such as chain coupling and bond scission can be limited by working in THF at –75°C. Gel permeation chromatography combined with on‐line viscometric, refractive index and fluorescence detection allows us to verify that degradation did not exceed 1 bond scission/180 000 monomer units. The degree of grafting increases with the reaction time but remains modest (< 5% after 7 h) at low temperature.