*2.2. Instruments*

1H NMR spectra were performed on a Bruker Avance III-400 NMR spectrometer (400 MHz, Bruker, Fällanden, Switzerland) using tetramethylsilane (TMS) as an internal standard. Gel permeation chromatography (GPC) trace was obtained with a Waters 1515 liquid chromatography system (Waters, MA, USA) equipped with a Waters 2414 refractive index detector (Waters, MA, USA) and Phenogel GPC columns (Waters, MA, USA) using pullulan as the standard and H2O as the eluent at a flow rate of 1.0 mL min−<sup>1</sup> at 35 ◦C. FTIR spectra were recorded with a ALPHA II FTIR spectrometer (Bruker, Rheinstetten, Germany). Circular dichroism (CD) spectra were collected on a Jasco J-715 WI spectropolarimeter (Jasco, Tokyo, Japan) operating at room temperature. UV-Vis absorption spectra were measured on a Shimadzu UV-2550 spectrometer (Shimadzu, Tokyo, Japan). Fluorescent spectra were recorded with a Hitachi F-4600 fluorescence spectrophotometer (Hitachi, Chiyoda ku, Japan) equipped with a xenon lamp excitation source. Fluorescence quantum yields were achieved by comparison with fluorescien in water as standard. The pH values were determined with a Mettler-Toledo Delta 320 pH meter (Mettler-Toledo, Greifensee, Switzerland).
