Supramolecular guest-host systems: combining high dye doping level with low aggregation tendency

摘要

We demonstrate that the aggregation tendency of dye molecules in a host polymer can be significantly reduced by exploiting non-covalent interactions between the host polymer and guest dye molecules. Such interactions occur spontaneously with no need for chemical synthesis, and could thus be utilized to combine the ease of processing of traditional guest-host systems with the high dye concentrations achievable in covalently linked systems. We studied the aggregation properties of the common azo-dye Disperse Red 1 in polymers with different functional groups. Compared to a nonpolar polymer (polystyrene), dye aggregation tendency is substantially reduced in polar polymer matrices containing hydrogen-bond donating [poly(vinylphenol)] or hydrogen-bond accepting [poly(4-vinylpyridine)] functional sites. Furthermore, by forming a polyelectrolyte-dye complex [Disperse Red 1/poly(styrenesulfonic acid)], a dye monomer can be attached to approximately each polymer unit, resulting in dye concentration of 63 wt. %. Complexation through proton transfer was further studied by using a fluorescent dye 5-phenyl-2-(4-pyridyl)oxazole. Our results indicate that polymer-dye complexes could provide a facile route for new type of optical materials, with potential applications in various fields of optics and photonics.