Patent ID: 7208122

Claim:
A sensor comprising: a polymeric composition comprising the structure: wherein A and C are aromatic groups; B and D are selected from the group consisting of a carbon-carbon double bond and a carbon-carbon triple bond; and at least one hydrogen on aromatic group A and/or C is replaced by E and F respectively, a and b being integers which can be the same or different and a=0–4, b=0–4 such that when a=0, b is nonzero and when b=0, a is nonzero; wherein the polymeric composition comprises a conjugated pi- backbone comprising an aromatic portion, and at least one of E and F includes a bicyclic ring system rigidly non-coplanar with the aromatic portion of the conjugated pi- backbone, the bicyclic ring system having aromatic or non-aromatic groups optionally interrupted by O, S, NR 1 and C(R 1 ) 2 wherein R 1 is selected from the group consisting of hydrogen, C 1 –C 20 alkyl, C 1 –C 20 alkoxy and aryl and n is less than about 10,000; and wherein, when E or F is not said bicyclic ring system, E or F is a part of aromatic group A or C; a source of energy applicable to the polymeric composition to cause emission of radiation; and an emission detector positionable to detect the emission.