Regioselectively functionalized synthesis of poly(amino naphthalene disulfonic acid)

•Poly(amino naphthalene disulfonic acid) (PANDA) nanoparticles were synthesized by a template-free polymerization process in an aqueous alkaline medium.•Poly-nanoparticles showed a reversible redox behavior because of its electroactive nature.•PANDA, also, emitted a yellow light while ANDA typically emitted a blue light in DMSO.•PANDA displayed an uncommon high photoluminescence quantum efficiency of approximately 30%.

Here, we reported the regioselective formation of poly(amino naphthalene disulfonic acid) (PANDA) nanoparticles by a template-free polymerization process in an aqueous alkaline medium. The NMR, FT-IR, UV–vis, gel permeation chromatography (GPC), thermogravimetry (TG), differential scanning calorimetry (DSC), cyclic voltammetry (CV), photoluminescence (PL), dynamic light scattering (DLS), X-Ray diffraction (XRD), scanning electron microscope (SEM), transmission electron microscope (TEM) and conductivity techniques were used to investigate the structure characterization in addition to the chemical and physical properties of PANDA polymer-based nanoparticle with molecular weight ca. 14000 Da. Polymer-based nanoparticle showed a reversible redox behavior because of its electroactive nature. PANDA, also, emitted a yellow light while ANDA typically emitted a blue light in DMSO. PANDA displayed an uncommon high photoluminescence quantum efficiency of approximately 30%. The kinetic parameters related to the solid state thermal decomposition of the poly-nanoparticles were calculated from isoconversional methods based on multiple heating rates by TG-DTG/DTA curves.

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