Autofluorescent Polymers: 1H,1H,2H,2H-Perfluoro-1-decanol Grafted Poly(styrene-b-acrylic acid) Block Copolymers without Conventional Fluorophore.

Recently, although several unconventional luminescent polymers have been synthesized, it still remains a significant challenge to prepare various new fluorescent polymers by functionalization of nonfluorescent polymers. A nonfluorescent 1H,1H,2H,2H-perfluoro-1-decanol grafted to nonfluorescent polystyrene-b-poly(acrylic acid) block copolymers through simply esterification reaction can exhibit strong blue emission. On the basis of control experiments and theoretical simulation, we have proposed that the luminescence stems from interchain n → π* interaction between the lone pair (n) of hydroxyl O atoms of carboxyl units and empty π* orbital of ester carbonyl unit. In addition, the fluorescent polymers are successfully employed for fluorescence imaging in living HeLa cell. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]