Fluorescent aggregates in naphthalene containing poly(urethane–urea)s

A series of segmented poly(urethane-urea)s containing naphthalene in the hard block and hexamethylene spacers in the soft block was prepared. The hard to soft segment ratio was varied systematically, to afford a series of polymers with various chromophore concentrations and a constant length of the chromophoric block, using a three-step synthetic procedure. The absorption, fluorescence and fluorescence-excitation spectra of solutions and films of the block copolymers provide strong evidence for aggregation. A red-shifted fluorescence spectrum peaking at 420 nm gains in intensity as the naphthalene concentration is increased. The excitation spectrum of this new emission is well to the red of the normal naphthalene absorption spectrum, consistent with the UV spectrum. Formation of a fluorescent ground state dimer (or higher aggregate) is proposed to account for these observations.