Supramolecular Competitive Host-Guest Interaction Induced Reversible Macromolecular Metamorphosis

Abstract

In this work, a rational strategy of competitive host-guest complexation between dioxynaphthalene (Naph) and tetrathiafulvalene (TTF) subunits as guests and cyclophane cyclobis(paraquat-p-phenylene) (CBPQT⁴⁺ ) module as host is exploited to modify the macromolecular architecture, so-called supramolecular metamorphosis, in aqueous media. The architectures of the polymers can be reversibly transformed from a linear diblock copolymer AB to a linear AC block copolymer or from a linear block copolymer to a comb copolymer by redox switching. Interestingly, as TTF- and Naph-based complexes feature different characteristic colors, it offers a great opportunity to directly observe nanoscaled macromolecular metamorphosis of materials with the naked eye.

Keywords: host-guest complexation; supramolecular metamorphosis; thermoresponsive properties.