Supramacromolecular chemistry: Self‐assembly of polystyrene‐based multi‐armed pseudorotaxane star polymers from multi‐topic C60 derivatives

Multitopic dibenzylammonium derivatives ( 4 ) of C₆₀ were prepared by Bingel reactions of C₆₀ with a malonate diester ( 2 ) containing two t‐BOC protected dibenzylamine moieties, followed by deprotection and protonation. Self‐assembly of model pseudorotaxanes 5 from the multidibenzylammonium C₆₀ derivatives with dibenzo‐24‐crown‐8 was studied by ¹H NMR spectroscopy and mass spectrometry. Self‐assembly of linear and star‐shaped pseudorotaxanes 8 with up to 12 arms based on polystyrenes bearing terminal DB24C8 host units ( 7 ) and the guest functionalized C₆₀ salts was demonstrated by ¹H NMR spectroscopy and solution phase viscometry. These studies provide further evidence of the potential of supramacromolecular chemistry in construction of complex polymeric architectures. © 2009 Wiley Periodicals, Inc. J Polym Sci Part A: Polym Chem 47: 6472–6495, 2009