UV-irradiation polymerization of bis-EDOT methane derivatives and their application for Br2 detection

Abstract Differing from traditional polymerization methods, here we synthesized two kinds of poly(bis-EDOT methane) derivatives through the polymerization of dihalogen substituted 5,5'-(phenylmethylene)bis(2,3-dihydrothieno[3,4-b][ 1 , 4 ]dioxine) under 254 nm-UV condition. Related polymerization processes were later confirmed with FT-IR, UV-vis and GPC methods. Especially, we found that the C/C contact distance plays an important role in UV-assisted polymerization by X-ray single crystal technology. This particular finding, we believe it will give a bright future for the further development of such a polymerization method. Additionally, by investigating the local structures of prepared polymers during the doping and de-doping processes, we successfully applied them as the chemosensors for Br2 detection.