Hossain MM, Atkinson JL, Hartley CS. Dissipative Assembly of Macrocycles Comprising Multiple Transient Bonds.
Angew Chem Int Ed Engl 2020;
59:13807-13813. [PMID:
32384209 DOI:
10.1002/anie.202001523]
[Citation(s) in RCA: 38] [Impact Index Per Article: 9.5] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 01/29/2020] [Revised: 04/18/2020] [Indexed: 12/20/2022]
Abstract
Dissipative assembly has great potential for the creation of new adaptive chemical systems. However, while molecular assembly at equilibrium is routinely used to prepare complex architectures from polyfunctional monomers, species formed out of equilibrium have, to this point, been structurally very simple. In most examples the fuel simply effects the formation of a single short-lived covalent bond. Herein, we show that chemical fuels can assemble bifunctional components into macrocycles containing multiple transient bonds. Specifically, dicarboxylic acids give aqueous dianhydride macrocycles on treatment with a carbodiimide. The macrocycles are assembled efficiently as a consequence of both fuel-dependent and fuel-independent mechanisms; they undergo slower decomposition, building up as the fuel recycles the components, and are a favored product of the dynamic exchange of the anhydride bonds. These results create new possibilities for generating structurally sophisticated out-of-equilibrium species.
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