Although incorporating AIEgens in versatile polymer topological structures is of high interest, cyclopolymers incorporating AIEgens have rarely been reported yet. In this work, a cyclopolymer incorporating tetraphenylethene groups in its cyclic repeating units (pTPE-dMMA) is synthesized in comparison with a linear polymer with tetraphenylethene pendant side groups (pTPE-MMA). The PLQY of pTPE-dMMA in the solid state is 50.35%, higher than that of pTPE-MMA (32.06%) in the solid state. The AIE behaviors of both pTPE-dMMA and pTPE-MMA in solutions are investigated. Because of the ring-constraint, the PL color of AIE cyclopolymer is not dependent on aggregation, while the PL intensity increases as the increased cyclopolymer concentration or aggregation. Even in an ultra-dilute solution (0.002 mg/mL), pTPE-dMMA exhibits significant AIE performance as the water fraction is increased. The enhanced AIE properties of pTPE-dMMA are ascribed to the ring constraint in the side groups and dense intra-/inter-molecular stacking. This work is useful not only for the designing novel AIE materials or fluorescent dyes, but also for understanding the structure–property–function relationships of a cyclopolymer.

尽管将 AIEgens 结合到多功能聚合物拓扑结构中引起了人们的高度关注，但很少报道结合 AIEgens 的环状聚合物。在这项工作中，合成了一种在其环状重复单元中包含四苯基乙烯基团的环状聚合物 (pTPE-dMMA)，并与带有四苯基乙烯侧基的线性聚合物 (pTPE-MMA) 进行了比较。pTPE-dMMA在固态下的PLQY为50.35%，高于pTPE-MMA在固态下的PLQY（32.06%）。研究了 pTPE-dMMA 和 pTPE-MMA 在溶液中的 AIE 行为。由于环约束，AIE环聚合物的PL颜色不依赖于聚集，而PL强度随着环聚合物浓度或聚集的增加而增加。即使在超稀溶液 (0.002 mg/mL) 中，随着水分含量的增加，pTPE-dMMA 表现出显着的 AIE 性能。pTPE-dMMA 增强的 AIE 特性归因于侧基中的环约束和致密的分子内/分子间堆叠。这项工作不仅有助于设计新型 AIE 材料或荧光染料，而且有助于理解环聚合物的结构-性质-功能关系。