Macromolecules, Vol.51, No.6, 2328-2334, 2018
Chiral Amplification in pi-Conjugated Helical Polymers with Circularly Polarized Luminescence
A series of D-glucose-bound optically active pi-conjugated polymers (poly-T-r) were synthesized by ternary copolymerization of 2,5-diiodothiophene with diethynyl monomers containing a chiral and an achiral biphenyl unit using the Sonogashira coupling reaction. The effect of the chiral and achiral biphenyl contents on the chiral amplification in the preferred-handed helix formation ("the sergeants and soldiers effect") was investigated by comparing the circular dichroism (CD) and circularly polarized luminescence (CPL) intensities of poly-T-r to that of the corresponding helical polymer (poly-T) without an achiral biphenyl unit. We observed that even when the chiral biphenyl content in the copolymer was 50 mol % (poly-T-0.50), its CD and CPL intensities were almost comparable to that of poly-T, demonstrating the amplification of the helicity.