Issue 31, 2019

Organobase triggered controlled supramolecular ring opening polymerization and 2D assembly

Abstract

A carboxylic acid appended naphthalene-diimide (NDI) derivative spontaneously aggregates in decane to generate a kinetically controlled product with irregular fibrillar morphology. By fine-tuning the sample preparation conditions, the carboxylic acid group can be trapped by intra-molecular H-bonds with the adjacent imide carbonyl, which retards the spontaneous aggregation. In the presence of a catalytic amount of a non-nucleophilic organic base (DBU or DMAP), the meta-stable monomer exhibits supramolecular polymerization through a thermodynamically controlled pathway involving simultaneous H-bonding and π-stacking and generates ultra-thin 2D nano-sheets. DMAP/DBU helps in ring-opening of the intra-molecularly H-bonded monomer and in situ breeds the free acid, which, beyond a critical concentration, initiates controlled supramolecular ring opening polymerization (SROP) via the chain-growth mechanism. The 2D polymer acts as a macro-initiator for subsequent two cycles of SROP and produces laterally extended ultra-thin nano-sheets.

Graphical abstract: Organobase triggered controlled supramolecular ring opening polymerization and 2D assembly

Supplementary files

Article information

Article type
Edge Article
Submitted
20 Apr. 2019
Accepted
26 Jūn. 2019
First published
27 Jūn. 2019
This article is Open Access

All publication charges for this article have been paid for by the Royal Society of Chemistry
Creative Commons BY-NC license

Chem. Sci., 2019,10, 7345-7351

Organobase triggered controlled supramolecular ring opening polymerization and 2D assembly

A. Chakraborty, G. Ghosh, D. S. Pal, S. Varghese and S. Ghosh, Chem. Sci., 2019, 10, 7345 DOI: 10.1039/C9SC01972C

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