Issue 15, 2015

Helical folding of an arylamide polymer in water and organic solvents of varying polarity

Abstract

An amphiphilic aromatic amide polymer has been prepared from the condensation of 1,8-naphthalimide-3,6-diamine and isophthalic acid precursors, both of which bear tetraethylene glycol chains. Fluorescence and UV-vis experiments for the polymer and mono-, tri-, penta-, and heptameric control compounds indicate that the polymer can form a helical hollow foldamer in both water and organic solvents of high and low polarity, including N,N-dimethylformamide, methanol, chloroform and dichloromethane. Fluorescence experiments in binary solvents reveal that in benign chloroform or dichloromethane of low polarity, across-layer intramolecular hydrogen bonding is the main driving force for the formation of the helical conformation. In highly polar water and organic solvents like methanol, the solvophobicity is the main driving force. Fluorescence experiments for the corresponding N-methylated polymer indicate that N-methylation reduces the folding propensity of the polymer considerably, but in polar solvents such as methanol, the polymer can still form the helical conformation.

Graphical abstract: Helical folding of an arylamide polymer in water and organic solvents of varying polarity

Supplementary files

Article information

Article type
Paper
Submitted
22 Jan 2015
Accepted
24 Feb 2015
First published
25 Feb 2015

Polym. Chem., 2015,6, 2955-2961

Author version available

Helical folding of an arylamide polymer in water and organic solvents of varying polarity

P. Zhang, L. Zhang, H. Wang, D. Zhang and Z. Li, Polym. Chem., 2015, 6, 2955 DOI: 10.1039/C5PY00096C

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