Influence of the enzymatic and the chemical oxidative polymerization of trifluoromethyl-substituted aromatic diamine on thermal and photophysical properties

Semi-conductive polymers have been used in a few area applications such as coatings, accumulators, solar cells, rechargeable batteries, ion sensors, photoreceptors, light-emitting diodes and electrochromic instruments. Poly(4-(trifluoromethyl)benzene-1,2-diamine)s of Poly(TFMBDA)-O and Poly(TFMBDA)-E were synthesized via chemical oxidative and enzymatic polymerization methods, respectively, using 4-(trifluoromethyl)benzene-1,2-diamine (TFMBDA) as monomer. FT-IR, UV-vis and H-1-NMR and C-13-NMR instruments were utilized in order to confirm the structures of all compounds. The Mw values of the polymers and their PDI values were found to be between 5000-7000 Da and 1.045-1.115, respectively, from GPC measurements. The glass temperature of phenazine-type structure of Poly(TFMBDA)-O was higher compared to that of Poly(TFMBDA)-E, which was composed of phenyl units linked with -NH bridges. As soon as Poly(TFMBDA)-O and Poly(TFMBDA)-E were excited by UV light, they had a quantum efficiency of 6.3% and 13.7%, respectively, in DMF for violet photoluminescence (PL) emission depending on photoluminescence measurement. SEM images revealed that Poly(TFMBDA)-O consisted of approximately 1-2 mu m of uniform micro-spheres and a granular surface with different pore diameters. The enzymatic oxidation with HRP afforded Poly(TFMBDA)-E micro-rods of about 5-10 mu m-long shape in their SEM images.