1. Multicolor Mechanofluorophores for the Quantitative Detection of Covalent Bond Scission in Polymers
- Author
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Baumann, Christoph, Stratigaki, Maria, Centeno, Silvia P., and Göstl, Robert
- Subjects
Materials science ,Mechanofluorophores | Hot Paper ,010402 general chemistry ,01 natural sciences ,Catalysis ,Fluorescence spectroscopy ,Mechanochemistry ,Microscopy ,Research Articles ,polymers ,Bond cleavage ,chemistry.chemical_classification ,010405 organic chemistry ,General Chemistry ,Polymer ,0104 chemical sciences ,chemistry ,fracture ,Chemical physics ,Covalent bond ,ddc:540 ,Self-healing hydrogels ,microscopy ,fluorescence ,mechanochemistry ,Absorption (chemistry) ,Research Article - Abstract
The fracture of polymer materials is a multiscale process starting with the scission of a single molecular bond advancing to a site of failure within the bulk. Quantifying the bonds broken during this process remains a big challenge yet would help to understand the distribution and dissipation of macroscopic mechanical energy. We here show the design and synthesis of fluorogenic molecular optical force probes (mechanofluorophores) covering the entire visible spectrum in both absorption and emission. Their dual fluorescent character allows to track non‐broken and broken bonds in dissolved and bulk polymers by fluorescence spectroscopy and microscopy. Importantly, we develop an approach to determine the absolute number and relative fraction of intact and cleaved bonds with high local resolution. We anticipate that our mechanofluorophores in combination with our quantification methodology will allow to quantitatively describe fracture processes in materials ranging from soft hydrogels to high‐performance polymers., A new platform of dual fluorescent mechanofluorophores that display covalent bond scission during material breakage by changing their optical properties was synthesized. The absorption and emission characteristics were tuned to cover the entire visible spectrum. Using photon quantitative confocal fluorescence microscopy, these new mechanofluorophores enabled the quantification of bond scission events with μm resolution.
- Published
- 2021