Abnormal sergeants-and-soldiers effects of poly(quinoxaline-2,3-diyl)s enabling discrimination of one-carbon homologous n-alkanes through a highly sensitive solvent-dependent helix inversion

Abstract

Poly(quinoxaline-2,3-diyl)s bearing (S)-3-octyloxymethyl and n-propoxymethyl side chains show an abnormal sergeants-and-soldiers effect in n-alkane solvents, which allows the development of a series of PQXs that exhibit an extremely sensitive solvent-dependent helix inversion that permits the discrimination of n-alkane solvents that differ by a single methylene group (e.g. n-heptane and n-octane).