Construction of Self-Reporting Biodegradable CO_(2)-Based Polycarbonates for the Visualization of Thermoresponsive Behavior with Aggregation-Induced Emission Technology

Thermoresponsive polymers with simultaneous biodegradability and signal“self-reporting”outputs that meet for advanced applications are hard to obtain.To address this issue,we developed fluorescence signal“self-reporting”biodegradable thermoresponsive polycarbonates through the immortal copolymerization of CO_(2)and oligoethylene glycol monomethyl ether-functionalized epoxides in the presence of hydroxyl-modified tetraphenylethylene(TPE-OH).TPE-OH was used as chain transfer agent to afford well-defined polycarbonates with controlled molecular weight(6000—17000 g·mol^(–1))and aggregation-induced emission characteristics.Through temperature-dependent fluorescence intensity study,low critical solution transition of TPE-labeled polycarbonates were determined and the fine details of thermal-induced phase transition process were monitored.Further research indicated that temperature-controlled aggregation and dissociation of TPE moieties are the main reason for fluorescence intensity variations.We anticipate that this work could offer a method to visualize the thermal transition process of thermoresponsive polycarbonates and broaden their application fields as smart materials.