Patent ID: 7296576

Claim:
A method of making a rigid poly(aryleneethynylene) polymer, the polymer having at least one functional group for solubilizing nanomaterial, a length of about 25 nm to about 110 nm, and a polydispersity of less than about 2, the method comprising: coupling a para-diethynyl-(R 1 –R x )arylene and an (R 1 –R y )-para-dihaloarylene in the presence of a first polymerization-terminating haloaryl agent, wherein each R of (R 1 –R x ) and (R 1 –R y ) is independently H, or a functional group for solubilizing nanomaterial, and at least one R of (R 1 –R x ) and (R 1 –R y ) is a functional group for solubilizing nanomaterial, and wherein x of (R 1 –R x ) is the maximum number of substituents on the para-diethynyl-(R 1 –R x )arylene, and y of (R 1 –R y ) is the maximum number of substituents on the (R 1 –R y )-para-dihaloarylene, under conditions and for a period of time to produce fluorescence; and terminating the coupling by addition of a second polymerization-terminating haloaryl agent, the second haloaryl agent having equal or greater activity for coupling as the (R 1 –R y )-para-dihaloarylene.