PHOTOADDRESSABLE POLYMERIC MATERIALS CONTAINING DISPERSE ORANGE 3

ANTONELA B. OROFINO; I. A. ZUCCHI; GALANTE, M.J.; PATRICIA A. OYANGUREN

Praga

Congreso; ECNP- Prague (European Centre for Nanostructured Polymers); 2012

Azobenzene-containing polymers (referred to as azo polymers hereafter) and block copolymers (BCP) represent two active research fields.1 For the former, the reversible trans?cis photoisomerization of azobenzene is the center of interest in exploring light-responsive polymers. For the latter, microphase separation induced morphology and the related self-organized nanostructures both in solid state and in solution have attracted much attention. It can be expected that bringing the appealing features of azo polymers and BCP together could result in interesting systems. The present work is focused on polymeric materials containing disperse orange 3, DO3, in which the induced motions of the chromophore by repeated photoisomerization can have a wide range of unexpected possible consequences. In one of the systems analyzed, we will be centred in the optical response of crosslinked DO3-containing polymers modified with different alkyl chains-having compounds. We discuss to what extent the nature of the neighboring organic molecules and the degree of union with the matrix can influence the reorientation of the azo groups, affecting the optical properties and their potential applications in optical devices. Other photoaddressable material studied has very interesting consequences at the nanometer level. We selectively introduce DO3-containing compounds into one block of the diblock copolymer (DBC) by working on preferential interactions (or affinities). The resulting system showed no scattering of visible light and improved optical properties respect to the simple guest-host system.