Selective ring-opening metathesis polymerization (ROMP) of cyclobutenes. Unsymmetrical ladderphane containing polycyclobutene and polynorbornene strands

Tricyclononenes and tricyclononadienes as efficient monomers for controlled ROMP: understanding structure-propagation rate relationships and enabling facile post-polymerization modification

Grubbs 3rd-generation (G3) pre-catalyst-initiated ring-opening metathesis polymerization (ROMP) remains an indispensable tool in the polymer chemist's toolbox. Tricyclononenes (TCN) and tricyclononadienes (TCND) represent under-explored classes of monomers for ROMP that have the potential to both advance fundamental knowledge (e.g., structure-polymerization kinetics relationships) and serve as practical tools for the polymer chemist (e.g., post-polymerization functionalization). In this work, a library of TCN and TCND imides, monoesters, and diesters, along with their exo-norbornene counterparts, were synthesized to compare their behaviors in G3-initiated ROMP. Real-time 1H NMR was used to study their polymerization kinetics; propagation rates (k p) were extracted for each monomer. To understand the relationships between monomer structure and ROMP propagation rates, density functional theory methods were used to calculate a variety of electronic and steric parameters for each monomer. While electronic parameters (e.g., HOMO energy levels) correlated positively with the measured k p values, steric parameters generally gave improved correlations, which indicates that monomer size and shape are better predictors for k p than electronic parameters for this data set. Furthermore, the TCND diester-which contains an electron-deficient cyclobutene that is resistant to ROMP-and its polymer p(TCND) are shown to be highly reactive toward DBU-catalyzed conjugate addition reactions with thiols, providing a protecting- and activating-group free strategy for post-polymerization modification.

An Orthogonal Dynamic Covalent Chemistry Tool for Ring-Opening Polymerization of Cyclic Oligochalcogenides on Detachable Helical Peptide Templates

A model system is introduced as a general tool to elaborate on orthogonal templation of dynamic covalent ring‐opening polymerization (ODC‐TROP). The tool consists of 3₁₀ helical peptides as unprecedented templates and semicarbazones as orthogonal dynamic covalent linkers. With difficult‐to‐control 1,2‐dithiolanes, ODC‐TROP on the level of short model oligomers occurs with high templation efficiency, increasing and diminishing upon helix stabilization and denaturation, respectively. Further, an anti‐templated conjugate with mispositioned monomers gave reduced templation upon helix twisting. Even with the “unpolymerizable” 1,2‐diselenolanes, initial studies already afford mild templation efficiency. These proof‐of‐principle results promise that the here introduced tool, recyclable and enabling late‐stage side chain modification, will be useful to realize ODC‐TROP of intractable or unknown cyclic dynamic covalent monomers for dynamer materials as well as cellular uptake and signaling applications.

Determination of the Orientation of Pendants on Rigid-Rod Polymers

Bis-norbornene and bis-cyclobutene with different kinds of linkers have been extensively used for the synthesis of double stranded ladderphanes under ruthenium- or molybdenum-catalyzed ring opening metathesis polymerization (ROMP) conditions. The key to the success relies on the selective formation of comb-like polynorbornenes or polycycloubtenes, where pendants are all aligned towards similar direction. This minireview summarizes various methods (chemical methods, spectroscopic means, and nonlinear optical measurements) for determining the comb-like conformations of pendants on these rigid-rod polymers. The approach is based on the proximal relationship between adjacent pendants. Interactions between these adjacent pendants would enable a change in chemical reactivity.

Functional Block Copolymers Carrying One Double-Stranded Ladderphane and One Single-Stranded Block in a Facile Metathesis Cyclopolymerization Procedure

In order to improve the poor film-forming ability of polymeric ladderphane, di-block copolymers containing perylene diimide (PDI)-linked double-stranded poly(1,6-heptadiyne) ladderphane and branched alkyl side chains modified single-stranded poly(1,6-heptadiyne) were synthesized by metathesis cyclopolymerization (MCP) using Grubbs third-generation catalyst (Ru-III) in tetrahydrofuran solvent. The first block containing the ladderphane structure leads to higher thermal-stability, wider UV-vis absorption, lower LUMO level and ladderphane-induced rigidity and poor film-forming ability. The second block containing long alkyl chains is crucial for the guarantee of excellent film-forming ability. By comparing the effect of ladderphane structure on the resulted copolymers, single-stranded poly(1,6-heptadiyne) derivatives with PDI pedant were also processed. The structures of copolymers were proved by 1H NMR and gel permeation chromatography, electrochemical, photophysical, and thermal-stability performance were achieved by cyclic voltammetry (CV), UV-visible spectroscopy and thermogravimetric analysis (TGA) measurements. According to the experiment results, both copolymers possessed outstanding film-forming ability, which cannot be realized by small PDI molecules and oligomers. And they can serve as a superior candidate as for n-type materials, especially for their relatively wide range of light absorption (λ = 200~800 nm), and lower LUMO level (-4.3 and -4.0 eV).