Catalyst-free multicomponent polymerization of sulfonyl azide,aldehyde and cyclic amino acids toward zwitterionic and amphiphilic poly(N-sulfonyl amidine) as nanocatalyst precursor

Polymers with metal coordination ability are outstanding precursors of nanocatalysts, attracting numerous attention in nanocatalysis area. It has been rarely reported for the poly(N-sulfonyl amidines) as macromolecular ligands for nanocatalysis. Herein, a catalyst-free multicomponent polymerization (MCP) strategy is developed to facilely prepare a library of amphiphilic poly(N-sulfonyl amidines) with zwitterionic properties starting from disulfonyl azide, hydrophilic dialdehyde and cyclic amino acids including proline and pipecolinic acid. Metals or additives can be thorougly avoided through this method. All the obtained polymers have well-defined structures, high yields and weight-average molecular weights (M_ws, up to 99,300 g/mol). The unique zwitterionic property, amphiphilicity and Cu(I) coordination ability of the obtained poly(N-sulfonyl amidines) endow them to form the polymer-Cu(I) complexes as nanocatalysts. Such nanocatalysts exhibite high catalytic efficiency in aqueous Cu-catalyzed azide-alkyne cycloaddition (CuAAC) reaction at a low Cu(I) loading of 50 ppm. Nanocatalysts with high ratio of polymers to Cu(I) have also been demonstrated with Cu(I) stabilization ability. This work provides a “green” MCP method toward zwitterionic and amphiphilic poly(N-sulfonyl amidines), and highlights their unique potentials for nanocatalysis.