Fabrication of Pyrene and Tetraphenylethylene Nanostructures by a Hydrolysis-Assisted Co-Assembly

The poly(allylamine hydrochloride)-g-pyrene-tetraphenylethylene(PAH-g-Py-g-TPE)copolymers with different ratios of Py and TPE are synthesized by grafting 1-pyrenecarboxaldehyde(Py-CHO)and tetraphenylethylene-carboxaldehyde(TPE-CHO)to PAH via a Schiff base reaction in methanol.The PAH-g-Py-g-TPE forms spherical micelles in water regardless of the ratios of Py and TPE,which can transform into different nanostructures after being incubated in pH 0 and pH 2 solutions,respectively.These nanomaterials including nanoparticles(NPs),nano-rods(NRs),nanotubes(NTs)and nanoribbons(NBs)are composed of Py-CHO and TPE-CHO with different ratios,and emit fluorescence with colors different from the pure Py NRs and NTs,and TPE NPs.