Synthesis and Properties of Poly[oxy(arylene)oxy(tetramethyldisilylene)]s via Melt Copolymerization Reaction

We carried out the melt copolymerization reactions of 1,2-bis(diethylamino)tetramethyldisilane with several aryldiols such as, 4,4'-biphenol, 4,4'-isopropylidenediphenol, 9H-fluoren-9,9-dimethanol, and 4,4'-(9-fluorenylidene) bis(2-phenoxyethanol) to afford poly[oxy(arylene)oxy(tetramethyldisilylene)]s containing fluorescent aromatic chromophore groups in the polymer main chain: poly[oxy(4,4'-biphenylene)oxy(tetramethyldisilylene)], poly[oxy(4,4'-isopropylidene) diphenylene oxy(tetramethyldisilylene)], poly[oxy(9H-fluorene-9,9-dimethylene) oxy(tetramethyldisilylene)], and poly[oxy 4,4'-(9-fluorenylidene)bis(2-phenoxyethylene)oxy(tetramethyldisilnylene)]. These prepared materials are soluble in common organic solvents such as CHCl3 and THF. The obtained polymers were characterized by several spectroscopic methods such as 1H, 13C, and 29Si NMR. Further, FTIR spectra of all the polymers exhibited characteristic Si-O stretching frequencies at 1014-1087 cm-1 These polymeric materials in THF showed strong maximum absorption peaks at 268-281 nm, strong maximum excitation peaks at 263-291 nm, and strong maximum fluorescence emission bands at 314-362 nm due to the presence of tetramethyldisilylene and several arylene chromophores in the polymer main chain. TGA thermograms indicated that most of the polymers were stable up to 200 .deg. C with a weight loss of 3-16% in nitrogen