The polarity of comonomer has an effect on the photochromism of spiropyran, therefore, the stabilization of specific chromophore isomers by tuning the polarity of the comonomer is very promising for the development of materials with high specificity in terms of optical properties. These excellent investigations provide a direction to prepare a convenient and efficient probe for the detection of Co2þ with high selectivity.
In the present work, we use tert-butyl methacrylate (tBMA) as the precursor monomer to copolymerize with [1'-(2- acryloxyethyl)-30 ,3'-dimethyl-6-nitrospiro-(2H-1-benzopyran- 2,2'-indoline), SPMA)], and the amphiphilic spiropyran-based random copolymer P(SPMA-co-MAA) is obtained by the hydroly- sis of the resulting intermediate product P(SPMA-co-tBMA) in acidic solution. The photochromic behavior and application in metal ions recognition of the copolymer are investigated in details.