Polystyrene Based Visible Light Responsive Polymer with Donor-Acceptor Stenhouse Adduct Pendants

A polystyrene based visible light responsive polymer bearing donor-acceptor Stenhouse adduct (DASA) pendants is designed and synthesized. Styrene-vinylbenzyl chloride copolymer (PS-co-PCMS) is prepared by free radical polymerization. Then amino-functionalized PS-co-PCMS is obtained by the nucleophilic substitution reaction between the chloromethyl unit and n-butylamine. Finally, the prepared secondary amines of the polymer are reacted with 5-(furan-2-ylmethylene)-2,2-dimethyl-1,3-dioxane-4,6-dione to fully change them into DASA pendants. The final DASA-containing polymer shows a tunable photoswitching property upon irradiation with visible light. A photoinduced contact angle change of water on the spin-coated film of DASA polymer is observed. The DASA polymer film shows excellent photolithographic performance, with well-defined patterns being efficiently photofabricated using a suitable mask.