SYNTHESIS AND ELECTROSPINNING OF A NOVEL FLUORESCENT POLYMER PMMA-PM FOR QUENCHING-BASED OPTICAL SENSING

ABSTRACT This work presents the synthesis of a new fluorescent polymer and its applicability for optical sensing using the electrospinning technique for the fabrication of nanofibrous membrane sensors. A new fluorescent monomer was first synthesized by coupling reactions between methacryloyl chloride and a pyrene derivative, 1-pyrene butanol. Fluorescent polymers containing different ratios of pyrene were then obtained by the copolymerization of this monomer with methylmethacrylate using 2,2′-azobisisobutyronitrile as the initiator. These polymers show distinct and well-defined fluorescence that is characteristic of the pyrene chromophores. Quenching-based optical chemical sensors were then fabricated by the electrospinning technique. The preliminary results show that these sensors have an order of magnitude higher sensitivity to the target analyte 2, 4-dinitro toluene than sensors formed from continuous thin films. This is believed to be due to the higher surface area to volume ratio of the electrospun n...