Detection of coalescing agents in water-borne latex emulsions using an environment sensitive fluorescent probeThis article is published as part of a themed issue in appreciation of the many important contributions made to the field of molecular photophysics by Jan Verhoeven.Electronic supplementary information (ESI) available: Emulsion polymerization recipes; physical characteristics of the coalescing agents; full details of the steady-state fluorescence spectra; time-resolved fluorescence of ne

In this paper we report the determination of partitioning of coalescing agents (organic co-solvents) in water-borne latex emulsions by means of a fluorescence method. An environment-sensitive fluorescent probe 1 was copolymerized via emulsion polymerization. The presence of organic co-solvents inside the polymer particles is revealed by the photophysical properties of the probe. In particular, the position of the fluorescence emission maximum of co-polymerized 1 can be used to measure the amount of coalescing agent present in the polymer particles. The spectral shifts are shown to be due to the softening of the matrix, rather than to solvation of the probe by the added co-solvent. The solvatochromic shift of the emission of a co-polymerized fluorescent probe gives quantitative information on the partitioning of co-solvents (coalescing agents) in water-borne acrylic latex dispersions.