Supramolecular polymerization promoted and controlled through self-sorting

Zehuan Huang; Liulin Yang; Yiliu Liu; Zhiqiang Wang; Oren A Scherman; Xi Zhang

doi:10.1002/anie.201402817

Supramolecular polymerization promoted and controlled through self-sorting

Angew Chem Int Ed Engl. 2014 May 19;53(21):5351-5. doi: 10.1002/anie.201402817. Epub 2014 Apr 7.

Authors

Zehuan Huang¹, Liulin Yang, Yiliu Liu, Zhiqiang Wang, Oren A Scherman, Xi Zhang

Affiliation

¹ Key Lab of Organic Optoelectronics & Molecular Engineering, Department of Chemistry, Tsinghua University, Beijing 100084 (China).

PMID: 24711345
DOI: 10.1002/anie.201402817

Abstract

A new method in which supramolecular polymerization is promoted and controlled through self-sorting is reported. The bifunctional monomer containing p-phenylene and naphthalene moieties was prepared. Supramolecular polymerization is promoted by selective recognition between the p-phenylene group and cucurbit[7]uril (CB[7]), and 2:1 complexation of the naphthalene groups with cucurbit[8]uril (CB[8]). The process can be controlled by tuning the CB[7] content. This development will enrich the field of supramolecular polymers with important advances towards the realization of molecular-weight and structural control.

Keywords: controlled polymerization; cucurbituril; self-assembly; self-sorting; supramolecular chemistry.