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Fluorescence Behavior and Emission Mechanisms of Poly(ethylene succinamide) and Its Applications in Fe3+ Detection and Data Encryption

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Abstract

Conventional fluorescent polymers are featured by large conjugation structures. In contrast, a new class of fluorescent polymers without any conjugations is gaining great interest in immerging applications. Polyamide is a typical member of the conjugation-free fluorescent polymers. However, studies on their electrophotonic property are hardly available, although widely used in many fields. Herein, poly(ethylene succinamide), PA24, is synthesized; its chemical structure confirmed through multiple techniques (NMR, FTIR, XRD, etc.). PA24 is highly emissive as solid and in its solution at room temperature, and the emission is excitation and concentration dependant, with an unusual blue shift under excitation from 270 nm to 320 nm, a hardly observed phenomenon for all fluorescent polymers. Quite similar emission behavior is also observed under cryogenic condition at 77 K. Its emission behavior is thoroughly studied; the ephemeral emission blue-shift is interpreted through Förster resonance energy transfer. Based on its structures, the emission mechanism is ascribed to cluster-triggered emission, elucidated from multi-analyses (NMR, FTIR, UV absorbance and DLS). In presence of a dozen of competitive metal ions, PA24 emission at 450 nm is selectively quenched by Fe3+. PA24 is used as probe for Fe3+ and H2O2 detections and in data encryption. Therefore, this work provides a novel face of polyamide with great potential applications as sensors in different fields.

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Acknowledgments

This work was financially supported by Natural Science Foundation of Shandong Province (Nos. ZR2019MB031 and ZR2021MB112) and Science and Technology Bureau of Jinan city (No.2021GXRC105), Shandong Province, China.

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Authors and Affiliations

  1. College of Chemistry and Chemical Engineering, University of Jinan, Jinan, 250022, China

    Xubao Jiang, Qinghui Wang, Bin Li, Shusheng Li & Xiang Zheng Kong

  2. Québec Center for Functional Materials, Department of Chemistry, Université de Sherbrooke, Sherbrooke, QC, J1K2R1, Canada

    Bin Li

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Correspondence to Xiang Zheng Kong.

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Fluorescence Behavior and Emission Mechanisms of Poly(ethylene succinamide) and Its Applications in Fe3+ Detection and Data Encryption

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Jiang, X., Wang, Q., Li, B. et al. Fluorescence Behavior and Emission Mechanisms of Poly(ethylene succinamide) and Its Applications in Fe3+ Detection and Data Encryption. Chin J Polym Sci 41, 129–142 (2023). https://doi.org/10.1007/s10118-022-2826-x

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