IDEAS home Printed from https://ideas.repec.org/a/nat/natcom/v12y2021i1d10.1038_s41467-021-22827-4.html
   My bibliography  Save this article

Oriented arrangement of simple monomers enabled by confinement: towards living supramolecular polymerization

Author

Listed:
  • Yingtong Zong

    (Beijing University of Chemical Technology)

  • Si-Min Xu

    (Beijing University of Chemical Technology)

  • Wenying Shi

    (Beijing University of Chemical Technology)

  • Chao Lu

    (Beijing University of Chemical Technology)

Abstract

The living supramolecular polymerization technique provides an exciting research avenue. However, in comparison with the thermodynamic spontaneous nucleation, using simple monomers to realize living supramolecular polymerization is hardly possible from an energy principle. This is because the activation barrier of kinetically trapped simple monomer (nucleation step) is insufficiently high to control the kinetics of subsequent elongation. Here, with the benefit of the confinement from the layered double hydroxide (LDH) nanomaterial, various simple monomers, (such as benzene, naphthalene and pyrene derivatives) successfully form living supramolecular polymer (LSP) with length control and narrow dispersity. The degree of polymerization can reach ~6000. Kinetics studies reveal LDH overcomes a huge energy barrier to inhibit undesired spontaneous nucleation of monomers and disassembly of metastable states. The universality of this strategy will usher exploration into other multifunctional molecules and promote the development of functional LSP.

Suggested Citation

  • Yingtong Zong & Si-Min Xu & Wenying Shi & Chao Lu, 2021. "Oriented arrangement of simple monomers enabled by confinement: towards living supramolecular polymerization," Nature Communications, Nature, vol. 12(1), pages 1-10, December.
    • Handle: RePEc:nat:natcom:v:12:y:2021:i:1:d:10.1038_s41467-021-22827-4
    DOI: 10.1038/s41467-021-22827-4
    as

    Download full text from publisher

    File URL: https://www.nature.com/articles/s41467-021-22827-4
    File Function: Abstract
    Download Restriction: no
    File URL: https://libkey.io/10.1038/s41467-021-22827-4?utm_source=ideas
    LibKey link: if access is restricted and if your library uses this service, LibKey will redirect you to where you can use your library subscription to access this item
    ---><---

    More about this item

    Statistics

    Access and download statistics

    Corrections

    All material on this site has been provided by the respective publishers and authors. You can help correct errors and omissions. When requesting a correction, please mention this item's handle: RePEc:nat:natcom:v:12:y:2021:i:1:d:10.1038_s41467-021-22827-4. See general information about how to correct material in RePEc.

    If you have authored this item and are not yet registered with RePEc, we encourage you to do it here. This allows to link your profile to this item. It also allows you to accept potential citations to this item that we are uncertain about.

    We have no bibliographic references for this item. You can help adding them by using this form .

    If you know of missing items citing this one, you can help us creating those links by adding the relevant references in the same way as above, for each refering item. If you are a registered author of this item, you may also want to check the "citations" tab in your RePEc Author Service profile, as there may be some citations waiting for confirmation.

    For technical questions regarding this item, or to correct its authors, title, abstract, bibliographic or download information, contact: Sonal Shukla or Springer Nature Abstracting and Indexing (email available below). General contact details of provider: http://www.nature.com .

    Please note that corrections may take a couple of weeks to filter through the various RePEc services.

    IDEAS is a RePEc service. RePEc uses bibliographic data supplied by the respective publishers.