Well-Defined Alternating Copolymers of Oligo(phenylenevinylene)s and Flexible Chains

Secondary Structure in Nonpeptidic Supramolecular Block Copolymers

Proteins contain a level of complexity-secondary and tertiary structures-that polymer chemists aim to imitate. The bottom-up synthesis of protein-mimicking polymers mastering sequence variability and dispersity remains challenging. Incorporating polymers with predefined secondary structures, such as helices and π-π stacking sheets, into block copolymers circumvents the issue of designing and predicting one facet of their 3D architecture. Block copolymers with well-defined secondary-structure elements formed by covalent chain extension or supramolecular self-assembly may be considered for localized tertiary structures.In this Account, we describe a strategy toward block copolymers composed of units bearing well-defined secondary structures mixed in a "plug-and-play" manner that approaches a modicum of the versatility seen in nature. Our early efforts focused on the concept of single-chain collapse to achieve folded secondary structures through either hydrogen bonding or quadrupole attractive forces. These cases, however, required high dilution. Therefore, we turned to the ring-opening metathesis polymerization (ROMP) of [2.2]paracyclophane-1,9-dienes (pCpd), which forms conjugated, fluorescent poly(p-phenylenevinylene)s (PPVs) evocative of β-sheets. Helical building blocks arise from polymers such as poly(isocyanide)s (PICs) or poly(methacrylamide)s (PMAcs) containing bulky, chiral side groups while the coil motif can be represented by any flexible chain; we frequently chose poly(styrene) (PS) or poly(norbornene) (PNB). We installed moieties for supramolecular assembly at the chain ends of our "sheets" to combine them with complementary helical or coil-shaped polymeric building blocks.Assembling hierarchical materials tantamount to the complexity of proteins requires directional interactions with high specificity, covalent chain extension, or a combination of both chemistries. Our design is based on functionalized reversible addition-fragmentation chain-transfer (RAFT) agents that allowed for the introduction of recognition motifs at the terminus of building blocks and chain-terminating agents (CTAs) that enabled the macroinitiation of helical polymers from the chain end of ROMP-generated sheets and/or coils. To achieve triblock copolymers with a heterotelechelic helix, we relied on supramolecular assembly with helix and coil-shaped building blocks. Our most diverse structures to date comprised a middle block of PPV sheets, parallel or antiparallel, and supramolecularly or covalently linked, respectively, end-functionalized with molecular recognition units (MRUs) for orthogonal supramolecular assembly. We explored PPV sheets with multiple folds achieved by chain extension using alternating pCpd and phenyl-pentafluorophenyl β-hairpin turns. Using single-molecule polarization spectroscopy, we showed that folding occurs preferentially in multistranded over double-stranded PPV sheets. Our strategy toward protein-mimicking and foldable polymers demonstrates an efficient route toward higher ordered, well-characterized materials by taking advantage of polymers that naturally manifest secondary structures. Our studies demonstrate the retention of distinct architectures after complex assembly, a paradigm that we believe may extend to other polymeric folding systems.

Syntheses and quadratic nonlinear optical properties of 2,7-fluorenylene- and 1,4-phenylene-functionalized o-carboranes

o-Carboranes C-functionalized by (4-substituted-phen-1-yl)ethynyl-1,4-phenyl groups or (2-substituted-fluoren-7-yl)ethynyl-2,7-fluorenyl groups, in which the pendant functionalization is electron-withdrawing nitro or electron-donating diphenylamino groups, have been synthesized and in many cases structurally characterized. Diphenylamino-containing examples coupled via the two π-delocalizable bridges to the electron-accepting o-carborane unit exhibit the greater quadratic optical nonlinearities at 1064 nm (hyper-Rayleigh scattering, ns pulses), the nonlinearities also increasing on proceeding from 1,4-phenylene- to 2,7-fluorenylene-containing bridge. The most NLO-efficient example 2-(n-butyl)-1-(2-((9,9-di(n-butyl)-2-(N,N-diphenylamino)-9H-fluoren-7-yl)ethynyl)-9,9-di(n-butyl)-9H-fluoren-7-yl)-1,2-ortho-carborane, consisting of diphenylamino donor, fluorenyl-containing bridge, o-carborane acceptor, and solubilizing n-butyl units, exhibits large 〈β〉_HRS (230 × 10^-30 esu) and frequency-independent (two-level model) 〈β₀〉 (96 × 10^-30 esu) values. Coupling two (2-((9,9-di(n-butyl)-2-(N,N-diphenylamino)-9H-fluoren-7-yl)ethynyl)-9,9-di(n-butyl)-9H-fluoren-7-yl) units to the 1,2-ortho-carborane core affords a di-C-functionalized compound with enhanced nonlinearities (309 × 10^-30 esu and 129 × 10^-30 esu, respectively).

Melt-Processing of Complementary Semiconducting Polymer Blends for High Performance Organic Transistors

Melt-processing of complementary semiconducting polymer blends provides an average charge carrier mobility of 0.4 cm² V^-1 s^-1 and current on/off ratios higher than 10⁵ , a record performance for melt-processed organic field-effect transistors.

Controlling the folding of conjugated polymers at the single molecule level via hydrogen bonding

In this manuscript, we report a design strategy to control polychromophore polymer folding at the single molecule level through hydrogen-bonding (H-bonding) interactions.

Naphthalenediimide Polymers with Finely Tuned In-Chain π-Conjugation: Electronic Structure, Film Microstructure, and Charge Transport Properties

Naphthalenediimide-based random copolymers (PNDI-TVTx) with different π-conjugated dithienylvinylene (TVT) versus π-nonconjugated dithienylethane (TET) unit ratios (x = 100→0%) are investigated. The PNDI-TVTx-transistor electron/hole mobilities are affected differently, a result rationalized by molecular orbital topologies and energies, with hole mobility vanishing but electron mobility decreasing only by ≈2.5 times when going from x = 100% to 40%.

Emission-Tunable Multicolor Graphene Molecules with Controllable Synthesis, Excellent Optical Properties, and Specific Applications

Series of graphene molecules with varied emission colors have been prepared by oxidative cyclodehydrogenation using anhydrous ferric chloride (FeCl3) as the catalyst under mild conditions. By controlling the oxidation time in the initial step only, molecules with different fluorescence colors are conveniently obtained. New colors can be recorded evidently because of the stepwise and controllable process, which highly related to the conjugation length. Blue emissive starting compounds in the solid state can be transformed into orange upon brief oxidation, whereas green emissive oligomers are varied to red with an emission wavelength redshift about 123 nm. Cyclic voltammetry measurements performed can give the corresponding data, which verify the results drawn from the UV and PL spectroscope. The gradual change of conjugation length with tunable emission is confirmed in the MALDI-TOF study as well. Further characterizations indicate that the graphene molecules possess satisfactory optical properties, which are highly emissive both in solution and in the solid state because of the alkyl group. In addition, the good thermal stability and the self-assembly of graphene molecules suggest that they are promising candidates for high-tech applications. Furthermore, the fabricated field-effect transistors possess the nice performance, whose mobilities are about 0.57 cm(2) V(-1) s(-1) with an on-off ratio of 1 × 10(4) and 0.81 cm(2) V(-1) s(-1) with an on-off ratio of 1 × 10(3), respectively.