Dynamics of ESIPT fluorescent methylmethacrylate-benzazole dye copolymers

The dynamics of fluorescent methylmethacrylate-benzazole dye copolymers were investigated in different concentration regimes by dynamic light scattering. In the dilute regime the polymer behaves as typical polydisperse linear chains in good solvent with a dynamics dominated by a single fast mode. In the semidilute regime, the cooperative diffusion coefficient, D_coop and the correlation length, ξ could be obtained. Above the semidilute regime the intensity autocorrelation functions show two-step decays, indicating the existence of low range correlations. The dye incorporation, even though small, affects the copolymer dynamics behavior in concentrated solutions if compared to PMMA, which is probably ascribed to a polymer-solvent interaction.