A Research Article entitled “Soluble and Processable Single-Crystalline Cationic Polymers” was published recently in the Journal of the American Chemical Society (JACS) by former group member Professor Qing-Hui Guo and his PhD student Yang Liu at Zhejiang University.
Single-crystal-to-single-crystal (SCSC) polymerization offers an effective protocol for the environmentally friendly preparation of polymer single crystals (PSCs) with extremely high crystallinity and very large molecular weights. Single-crystal X-ray diffraction (SCXRD) serves as a powerful technique for the in-depth characterization of the polymer structures at the molecular level. Hence, a fundamental understanding of the structure–property relationships of PSCs is within our reach. Most of the PSCs reported in the literature, however, suffer from poor solubility, a property which hampers their post-functionalization and solution processability when it comes to practical applications.
In this Article, soluble and processable PSCs with rigid polycationic backbones are reported. The high crystallinity and excellent solubility of the resulting polymeric crystals enable their characterization both in the solid state by X-ray crystallography and electron microscopy and in the solution phase by NMR spectroscopy. Post-functionalization of the PSCs by anion exchange renders them super-hydrophobic materials, a property required for use in water purification. Solution processability endows PSCs with excellent gel-like rheological properties. This research represents a major step towards the controlled synthesis and full characterization of soluble single-crystalline polymers, which may find application in the fabrication of PSCs with many different functions.
Congratulations, Yang and Qing-Hui! An amazing piece of research and a great start by the Guo Supra_Chem Laboratory.
Pictured below – Yang Liu and Qing-Hui alongside the TOC for their JACS publication “Soluble and Processable Single-Crystalline Cationic Polymers”:
