Photoresponsive double-stranded helices composed of complementary strands

A photoresponsive single-handed double helical supramolecule composed of complementary strands bearing azobenzene moieties underwent a reversible trans-cis-isomerization regulated by photoirradiation, resulting in a change in its molecular length.     

Reversible crosslinking and decrosslinking of polymers containing alcohol moiety using an acyclic bifunctional vicinal triketone

In this article, we report reversible crosslinking and decrosslinking systems of commercially available alcoholic polymers, using a bifunctional vicinal triketone (bistriketone) as a crosslinking reagent. A small amount of the bistriketone (0.2 equiv of the tricarbonyl moiety relative to the OH group of the polymer) was added to a solution of poly(2‐hydroxyethyl methacrylate) (PHEMA) in dimethyl sulfoxide (DMSO). After 4 days, the networked polymer was obtained as a yellow‐colored gel in 97% yield. Conversely, the resulting gel could be decrosslinked by treatment with MeOH for 4 days to recover the original PHEMA in 94% yield as well as the bistriketone in 54% yield. The network formation and dissociation behaviors were investigated in detail by ¹H NMR and size exclusion chromatography experiments. Similarly to PHEMA, reversible crosslinking and decrosslinking of poly(vinyl alcohol) were achieved by addition of the bistriketone and by treatment of the resulting gel with H₂O/DMSO (1/9, v/v), respectively. © 2014 Wiley Periodicals, Inc. J. Polym. Sci., Part A: Polym. Chem. 2014 , 52, 921–928     

Supramolecular polymer gels formed from carboxy‐terminated telechelic polybutadiene and polyamidine through amidinium‐carboxylate salt bridge

In this article, we report the preparation and properties of the bulk supramolecular polymer gels prepared from a polybutadiene based on the amidinium‐carboxylate salt bridge, highlighting the difference from a well‐established network system based on carboxylic acid and amine. We have prepared the amidinium‐carboxylate salt bridge‐based supramolecular polymer gels from a carboxy‐terminated telechelic polybutadiene and a linear polyamidine having N,N′‐di‐substituted acetamidine group in the main chain. FTIR analysis along with Small angle X‐ray scattering measurements indicated that the salt bridge was attributed to the gelation through three‐dimensional network formation. Virtually no fluidity was observed for the supramolecular gel containing equimolar amounts of the carboxyl group and the amidine group, which showed a high G′ value of about 1 MPa at room temperature and a T_gel of 37 °C. For comparison, the supramolecular polymer gels crosslinked by ammonium‐carboxylate salt were prepared using a linear polyethyleneimine instead of the polyamidine. The gel with equimolar amounts of the carboxyl group and the secondary amino group showed liquid‐like fluidity with a G′ value of about 0.01 MPa at room temperature, which was attributed to the fact that a certain amount of the carboxyl group remained as its free form without salt formation, as evidenced by FTIR analysis. © 2014 Wiley Periodicals, Inc. J. Polym. Sci., Part A: Polym. Chem. 2014 , 52, 1815–1824     

Synthesis and extension/contraction motion of spiroborate-based double-stranded helicates consisting of substituted oligophenol strands

A new class of ortho- and meta-substituted tetraphenols at the terminal phenyl residues with a biphenylene unit in the middle were synthesized and the effect of the substitution position on the spiroborate-based double-stranded helicate formation with sodium borohydride was investigated. The ortho-substitution considerably hampered the spiroborate formation between the terminal biphenol units and the boron atoms, whereas the meta-substituted oligomers formed a double-stranded helicate bridged by spiroborate groups accommodating a sodium cation in the center, which displayed an extension and contraction motion triggered by the removal and addition of sodium ions in solution.     

Erratum to: ”Selective separation of some ecotoxic transition metal ions from aqueous solutions using immobilized macrocyclic material containing solid phase extraction system”

The original version of the article was published in Cent. Eur. J. Chem. 9(6) (2011), pp 1019–1026. Unfortunately, the original version of this article contains mistakes in the body of Fig. 1. Here we display the corrected version of the Fig. 1.     

Sequence- and chain-length-specific complementary double-helix formation

The artificial sequential strands consisting of two, three, or four m-terphenyl groups joined by diacetylene linkers with complementary binding sites, either the chiral amidine (A) or achiral carboxyl (C) group, were synthesized in a stepwise manner. Using circular dichroism and (1)H NMR spectroscopies along with liquid chromatography, we showed that, when three dimeric molecular strands (AA, CC, and AC) or six trimeric molecular strands (AAA, CCC, AAC, CCA, ACA, and CAC) were mixed in solution, the complementary strands were sequence-specifically hybridized to form one-handed double-helical dimers AA.CC and (AC) 2 or trimers AAA.CCC, AAC.CCA, and ACA.CAC, respectively, through complementary amidinium-carboxylate salt bridges. Upon the addition of CCA to a mixture of AAA, AAC, and ACA, the AAC.CCA double helix was selectively formed and then isolated from the mixture by chromatography. Moreover, the homo-oligomer mixtures of amidine or carboxylic acid from the monomers to tetramers (A, AA, AAAA, C, CC, and CCCC) assembled with a precise chain length specificity to form A.C, AA.CC, and AAAA.CCCC, which were separated by chromatography.