Issue 7, 2021

Tandem diaza-Cope rearrangement polymerization: turning intramolecular reaction into powerful polymerization to give enantiopure materials for Zn2+ sensors

Abstract

[3,3]-Sigmatropic rearrangement is a powerful reaction to form C–C bonds stereospecifically; however, owing to intrinsic simultaneous bond formation and breakage, this versatile method has not been utilized in polymerization. Herein, we report a new tandem diaza-Cope rearrangement polymerization (DCRP) that can synthesize polymers with defect-free C–C bond formation from easy and efficient imine formation. A mechanistic investigation by in situ1H NMR experiments suggests that this polymerization proceeds by a rapid DCR process, forming an enantiospecific C–C bond that occurs almost simultaneously with imine formation. This polymerization produces not only highly stable polymers against hydrolysis due to resonance-assisted hydrogen bonds (RAHBs) but also chiral polymers containing enantiopure salen moieties, which lead to high-performance Zn2+-selective turn-on chemosensors with up to 73-fold amplification. We also found that their optical activities and sensing performances are heavily dependent on the reaction temperature, which significantly affects the stereoselectivity of DCR.

Graphical abstract: Tandem diaza-Cope rearrangement polymerization: turning intramolecular reaction into powerful polymerization to give enantiopure materials for Zn2+ sensors

Supplementary files

Article information

Article type
Edge Article
Submitted
08 Nov. 2020
Accepted
01 Dec. 2020
First published
08 Dec. 2020
This article is Open Access

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

Chem. Sci., 2021,12, 2404-2409

Tandem diaza-Cope rearrangement polymerization: turning intramolecular reaction into powerful polymerization to give enantiopure materials for Zn2+ sensors

S. Hwang and T. Choi, Chem. Sci., 2021, 12, 2404 DOI: 10.1039/D0SC06138G

This article is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution 3.0 Unported Licence. You can use material from this article in other publications without requesting further permissions from the RSC, provided that the correct acknowledgement is given.

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