Rigidified, ladder polymer helices

• Applicants: Professor Dr. John Lupton; Professor Dr. Ullrich Scherf
• Subject Area: Preparatory and Physical Chemistry of Polymers ; Experimental Condensed Matter Physics ; Optics, Quantum Optics and Physics of Atoms, Molecules and Plasmas ; Polymer Materials
• Term: since 2021
• Project identifier: Deutsche Forschungsgemeinschaft (DFG) - Project number 466652575

Goal of this collaborative research project is the precision synthesis of rigid ladder polymer helices containing pi-conjugated segments with a fully defined orientation in space, and the subsequent characterization of their optical and chiroptical properties, especially on the single chain level. The demonstration of circularly polarized photoluminescence (CPL) for single chains will significantly contribute to a deeper understanding of structure-property relations on the single-chain level. It is expected that the results will have high application potential in optoelectronics and spintronics.Objective of the proposed synthetic part is the generation of several classes of rigidified, helical ladder polymers of high structural perfection by incorporation of rigid, angular linkers with fixed but differing tilt angle (60°, 90°, 120°) into helical arylene ladder polymers with different orientations of the pi-surface with respect to the helix axis. The work will be complemented by extensive studies of rigidity and conformation on the single-molecule level, with the objective of learning more about the dynamics of dark states of conjugated polymers and a particular emphasis on searching for signatures of circular dichroism in the fluorescence.

• DFG Programme: Research Grants