π-Conjugated polymer-layered structures: synthesis and self-assembly

π-Conjugated polymers capped with a boronic acid end-functional group were synthesized by chain-growth Suzuki–Miyaura polycondensation. The obtained polymers were reacted with a π-stacked-polymer scaffold, developed in our previous work. Despite their bulkiness, the conjugated polymers were efficiently introduced into the polymer scaffold. The spectroscopic and optical characterization of the obtained graft polymers in the solid state revealed that the original π-conjugated polymers were stacked in a single polymer chain. Although excluded volume effects prevented significant intermolecular interactions between the polyfluorenes, the introduced polythiophenes formed intermolecular π-stacked structures. Direct observations of the obtained graft polymers showed that the graft polymers self-assembled into the spherical or fiber structures depending on the introduced polymers, whereas no ordered structures were formed by the same polymers before the polymer reaction.