| Abstract: | New luminescent materials—aromatic polyketanils (PKs) containing p‐phenylene and biphenylene linkages in the backbone and electron‐donating, side‐group substitutions—were synthesized via melt polycondensation with the goal of studying the interactions between the polymer chains (PKs), primary dopant 1,2‐(di‐2‐ethylhexyl)ester of 4‐sulfophthalic acid (PSA)], and secondary dopant m‐cresol (MC)] with 1H NMR, 13C NMR, Fourier transform infrared (FTIR), ultraviolet–visible, and photoluminescence measurements. Spectral changes were observed for the PKs after primary and secondary doping, and they supported ionic‐ and hydrogen‐bond formation between the PKs and the PSA and MC, respectively. This specific interaction of the dopant with the host polymer influenced the PK properties, and the following observations were made: (1) HOMO/LUMO energy gap of the protonated PKs; (2) bathochromic/hypsochromic photoluminescence shifts observed after protonation with PSA; (3) a downfield chemical shift of the labile proton in the protonating agent OH group in the 1H NMR spectra of the protonated polymers; (4) a protonation decrease in the intensity of the C?N stretching band in the FTIR spectrum; and (5) a spherulite‐like morphology, detected by atomic force microscopy and polarized optical microscopy. © 2006 Wiley Periodicals, Inc. J Polym Sci Part A: Polym Chem 44: 5645–5660, 2006 |
