Hydrogen-bond interactions and photoluminescence properties of the miscible blends of 9-anthracenecarboxylic acid and polycyanate crosslinked resin

Polycyclotrimerization of aromatic dicyanate monomers yields polycyanate (PCn) resin with s-triazine ring as the crosslinking points. This inherent s-traizine ring in PCn resin can function as hydrogen-bond (H-bond) acceptor; therefore, an H-bond donor, 9-anthracenecarboxylic acid (ACA), was used in this study to mix with the starting aromatic dicyanate monomer and the whole mixtures were further cured to prepare miscible ACA/PCn blends with inherent H-bond interactions. The resulting ACA/PCn blends show their absorption and emission patterns characteristic of the photoluminescent (PL) ACA and PCn components. An energy-transfer process from the PCn matrix to the included ACA operates, resulting in the increase of the PL quantum yield in the ACA/PCn blends as compared to pure PCn resin.