Three indole-based nonlinear optical (NLO) chromophores with changeable isolation groups were successfully introduced into the polymer backbone to yield a series of main-chain polyurethanes. Thanks to the mainchain structure and the advantages of the indole-based chromophores, all of the polymers show excellent transparency, good processability, thermal stability, and relatively good NLO effects. The obtained experimental results indicated that the polymer backbone, in addition to the linked isolation moieties, could act as isolation spacers in some special cases. The tested NLO results demonstrated that the isolation groups with apparent site-isolation effect might not benefit the macroscopic NLO effect of the resultant polymers.

By modifying the synthetic procedure, the previous reported impossible approach was successfully utilized to construct new azo-chromophore-containing hyperbranched polymers (HP1 and HP2) from AB2 monomers through click chemistry reactions with the aid of copper(I) catalysis. The two polymers were soluble in organic solvents and well characterized. Thanks to the advantages of the hyperbranched polymeric structure, the two polymers demonstrated good NLO properties, making them promising candidates for the practical applications.

To develop sensitive and selective CN-chemosensors, a new imidazole-functionalized polyfluorene (P1) was designed and obtained conveniently, the fluorescence of which could be completely quenched by Cu2+ ions at the concentration as low as 0.20 ppm in diluted solutions. By utilizing the much higher stability constant of the complex of CN-and Cu2+, the quenched fluorescence of the solution of P1 by Cu2+ ions could recover upon the addition of trace CN-anions, with the detection limit down to 0.31 ppm, making P1 a novel, sensitive and selective cyanide probe.

On the basis of the protection reaction between ethanethiol and aldehyde, we designed and synthesized two new ratiometric fluorescent chemosensors, 3 and 4, by using intramolecular charge transfer (ICT) as a signaling mechanism. Upon the addition of Hg2+ ion, both probes displayed apparent luminescence color changes, which could be observed by naked eyes under a UV lamp. Unexpectedly, both chemosensors also gave response to the addition of trace silver ions, making this kind of chemosensors as the first example of ratiometric fluorescent probe that showed dual channel fluorescence for both Hg2+ and Ag+. The test strips experiments suggested that 3 and 4 could serve as practical fluorescent probes for rapid detection of Hg2+ ion.