Homogeneous anionic PPE hybrids with silica gel

Anionic poly(p‐phenylene‐ethynylene) (PPE) incorporated polymer hybrids were synthesized from the PPE and tetramethoxysilane together with the organic polymers such as poly(vinylpyrrolidone) via a sol–gel method. Up to 10 wt % of the anionic PPE could be dispersed homogeneously in the resulting polymer hybrid matrix. The obtained polymer hybrids exhibited controllable photoluminescence properties by the modification of the internal environment of organic–inorganic polymer hybrids by changing the organic/inorganic ratios. The photoluminescence of the anionic PPE surrounded by the polymer hybrid matrix was reinforced against the thermal irradiation. Moreover, the photoluminescence of the obtained organic–inorganic polymer hybrids was also tuned by utilizing ionic interactions between the anionic PPE and the inorganic matrix. © 2008 Wiley Periodicals, Inc. J Polym Sci Part A: Polym Chem 46: 3749–3755, 2008