Aggregation-Induced Emission in a Hyperbranched Poly(silylenevinylene) and Superamplification in Its Emission Quenching by Explosives

A silicon‐containing hyperbranched polymer (hb‐P1/2) with σ*–π* conjugation was prepared in a good yield and high molecular weight by rhodium‐catalyzed alkyne polyhydrosilylation of 1,2‐bis(4‐ethynylphenyl)‐1,2‐diphenylethene (1) with tris(4‐dimethylsilylphenyl)amine (2). The polymer was thermally stable, losing merely 5% of its weight when heated to ≈445 °C. Whereas hb‐P1/2 was weakly luminescent when molecularly dissolved, it became highly emissive when supramolecularly aggregated, showing an aggregation‐induced emission (AIE) phenomenon. A superamplification effect was observed when the AIE nanoaggregates were used as fluorescent chemosensor for explosive detection: the quenching efficiency was greatly increased in a nonlinear fashion with increasing quencher concentration. A hyperbranched poly(silylenevinylene) with high solubility and stability is synthesized by alkyne polyhydrosilylation. The polymer shows an aggregation‐induced emission effect and works as an excellent chemosensor for explosive detection.