Nanostructured Dihexadecyldimethylammonium-Poly(1,4-phenylene-ethinylene-carboxylate): An Ionic Complex with Blue Electroluminescence

Transferral of the interesting fluorescence properties, seen in solution, of a brittle solid polymer with a conjugated backbone to a material in a more convenient state is shown to be possible. A flexible, mesomorphously structured film is obtained by complexing the brittle polymer with a surfactant, resulting in the title complex. The Figure shows the “herring school texture” of the complex observed by optical polarization microscopy.