Synthesis and self-assembly of carbazole-based amphiphilic triblock copolymers with aggregation-induced emission enhancement

Well-defined amphiphilic triblock copolymers with carbazole pendants (PVACB-PEG2000-PVACB) were synthesized via the combination of reversible addition-fragmentation chain transfer (RAFT) polymerization and “click” chemistry. All of the intermediate and final products were characterized using 1H NMR, FT-IR and GPC. Cup-shaped vesicles were then fabricated via self-assembly of the carbazole-containing amphiphilic triblock copolymers in aqueous solution, which were characterized by TEM and SEM. These novel carbazole-based polymeric vesicles were found to exhibit interesting aggregation-induced emission enhancement (AIEE) characteristics compared with the fluorescence intensity of the polymers in organic solution.