A convenient method of producing in-chain tetraphenylethylene based AIE-active conjugated polymer for explosive detection via dehydrogenation of an alternative copolymer of 1,3-cyclohexadiene and trans-stilbene

Abstract Most conjugated polymers (CPs) with AIEgens in their backbone are synthesized through transition metal-catalyzed cross-coupling reactions. However, the major limitation of these methods is complex chemical synthesis. This study aimed to develop a new facile yet efficient synthesis method for obtaining a CP (TPCTS) with TPE units in the backbone via oxidative dehydrogenation of poly (1,3-cyclohexadiene-alt-trans-stilbene) (PCTS) prepared by anionic copolymerization of 1,3-cyclohexadiene (1,3-CHD) and trans-Stilbene (TS). The dehydrogenation product TPCTS is soluble in common organic solvents and exhibits typical AIE features. Considering its luminescence properties in the aggregated state, nanoaggregates of TPCTS in tetrahydrofuran (THF) /90 vol% water are utilized as sensing material for 2,4,6-trinitrotoluene (TNT) detection, and show potential as a chemosensor for nitroaromatic analytes.