Heteroaromatic Hyperbranched Polyelectrolytes: Multicomponent Polyannulation and Photodynamic Biopatterning.

The development of facile methods for the synthesis of functional hyperbranched polyelectrolytes plays a pivotal role for biomimicry and the creation of new materials. In this study, we reported an efficient multicomponent polyannulation for in situ generation of heteroaromatic hyperbranched polyelectrolytes by using readily accessible internal diynes and low-cost, commercially available arylnitriles, NaSbF 6 , and H 2 O/AcOH. The polymers were obtained in excellent yields (up to 99%) with extraordinary high molecular weights (Mw up to 1.011 × 10^6 ) and low polydispersity indices. The resulting polymers showed good processibility and high quantum yields with tunable emission in the solid state, making them as ideal materials for highly ordered fluorescent photopatterning. These hyperbranched polyelectrolytes also possessed strong ability to generate reactive oxygen species, which allowed their applications in efficient bacterial killing and customizable photodynamic patterning of living organisms in a simple and cost-effective way. In view of the unique properties and functionalities, these hyperbranched polyelectrolytes hold great promise to be used in a plethora of follow-up studies, such as photoelectronic materials, disease theranostics, biochips, and tissue engineering.