Single component transparent free-standing films based on polyhedral octasilicate-core dendrimers bearing carbazole terminal groups and their emission properties
9H-carbazole-9-ethyl and 9H-carbazole-9-hexyl-terminated polyhedral octasilicate (OS)-core dendrimers, denoted as OS-C2-Cz and OS-C6-Cz, respectively, were prepared by ring-opening reaction and subsequent condensation of octakis(propenyl succinicanhydrido)polyhedral octasilicate (OS-SA) with 9H-carbazole-9-ethanol (Cz-C2-OH) and 9H-carbazole-9-hexanol (Cz-C6-OH), respectively. Both the dendrimers formed optical transparent coating films. In particular, the coating film of OS-C2-Cz was easily peeled off from a substrate and formed a free-standing film. The results of X-ray diffraction and differential scanning calorimeter suggest that the films of OS-C2-Cz and OS-C6-Cz were amorphous. Thermogravimetric analysis of OS-C2-Cz and OS-C6-Cz showed 10 wt % weight losses at 374 and 383 °C, respectively. Photoluminescence property revealed that the carbazole group in OS-C2-Cz is prevented the excimer formation, while the carbazole group in OS-C6-Cz formed the excimer. © 2015 Wiley Periodicals, Inc. J. Polym. Sci., Part A: Polym. Chem. 2015