Cationic Water-Soluble Polyfluorene Homopolymers and Copolymers: Synthesis, Characterization and Their Applications in DNA Sensing

Yanyan      Wang; Bin      Liu

doi:10.2174/138527211794474492

Abstract

The most widely studied cationic polyfluorene homopolymers and copolymers are fluorene-containing conjugated polymers with quarternary amine groups on side chains which render them soluble in polar solvents. This review summarizes the polymer structures and various synthetic methods to water-soluble polyfluorenes (PF) and their derivatives which include poly(fluorene-cophenylene)s, poly(fluorene-co-benzothiadiazole)s, poly(fluorene-co-thiophene)s, poly(fluorenevinylene)s and poly(fluorenethynylene)s. This is followed by a brief survey on the polymer optical properties. Finally, the application of cationic PF homopolymers and copolymers in DNA sensing is discussed.

Keywords: Polyfluorene, polyfluorene copolymer, cationic conjugated polymer, water-soluble polymer, DNA sensor, signal amplification, DNA microarray technology, allele specific oligonucleotide, enzyme mismatch cleavage, gold nanoparticle aggre-gation, oligonucleotide ligation, Conjugated polyelectrolytes (CPEs), conjugated polymers, photonic devices, biosensors, polythiophenes (PT), poly(3-alkoxy-4-methylthiophene), poly(phenylene ethynylene) (PPE), fluorescent resonance energy transfer (FRET), fluorescein, fluorene monomers, Suzuki Copolymerization, tetrakis, gel permeation, polyfluorene copolymers, PFP, PF, tetraphenylborate, PFBT, PFT, fluorene-containing poly(aryleneethynylene)s (PFAEs), THF/DMF, mofluorene, trimethylsilyl acetylen, Sonogashira coupling condition, diisopropylamine/toluene, Homogenous Assay, Nanoparticle (NP)-based DNA Detection, On-chip DNA Detection, G-quadruplex complex