Chapter 2: Luminogenic Polymers with AIE Characteristics

Since conceptually proposed by Tang et al. in 2001, the aggregation-induced emission (AIE) has caused tremendous interests among scientists worldwide. Currently, hundreds of AIE-active luminogens have been designed and prepared, but most of them are small molecular ones. However, the AIE-active polymers possess charming advantages, such as mutable and tunable molecular structure, excellent film-foming ability and facile processability, thus, are potentially applied in diverse high-tech areas, like fluorescent chemo- and bio-sensors, optoelectronic devices and so on. In this chapter, we first summarize the types of the presented AIE-active polymers by incorporating AIE-active units, such as tetraphenylethene (TPE), multi-phenyl substituted siloles and distyrylanthracene (DSA). In addition, a new kind of luminogenic polymers containing unconventional chromophore, such as poly(amido amine) (PAMAM), poly(amino ester) and poly[(maleic anhydride)-alt-(vinyl acetate)], are also discussed. Our aim is to establish a structure-property relationship of AIE-active polymers, and further demonstrate how to control the AIE-activity of the polymers via intelligent and rational molecular design.