Synthesis of furan-based intramolecular donor–acceptor type chiral–electroactive polymers having optical activity, laser diffraction, and structural color functions

A series of intramolecular donor–acceptor type monomers was polymerized in cholesteric liquid crystal (Ch-LC) electrolyte solution as a chiral liquid crystal molecular template with helical structure. The polymers thus obtained showing fingerprint pattern with iridescence via imprinting of Ch-LC medium were characterized by infrared spectroscopy, cyclic voltammetry, ultraviolet–visible spectroscopy, circular dichroism, scanning electron microscopy, polarizing microscopy, and reflectance spectroscopy to evaluate optical characters and structural color. The polymer showed optically active–electrochromism. The intramolecular donor–accepter type polymer has intermolecular chiral aggregation in the manner of Ch-LC by molecular form imprinting.