Synthesis of organic-soluble conjugated polyrotaxanes by polymerization of linked rotaxanes.
Extensive research on the use of cyclodextrin for insulating pi-conjugated polymer chains has been carried out. However, the resulting polyrotaxanes do not exhibit high and constant covering ratios and are generally insoluble in organic solvents. Here we demonstrate a new method of synthesizing permethylated cyclodextrin-based polyrotaxanes involving the polymerization of linked rotaxane monomers. The insulated molecular wires obtained by this method are highly soluble in organic solvents and have a high covering ratio, rigidity, and photoluminescence efficiency. A cholesteric liquid-crystal phase was observed for these highly rigid polyrotaxanes, in which threading of a pi-conjugated polymer chain through chiral macrocycles occurs.
Terao
Jun
J
Department of Energy and Hydrocarbon Chemistry, Graduate School of Engineering, Kyoto University, and PRESTO, Japan Science and Technology Agency (JST), Nishikyo-ku, Kyoto 615-8510, Japan. terao@scl.kyoto-u.ac.jp
Tsuda
Susumu
S
Tanaka
Yuji
Y
Okoshi
Kento
K
Fujihara
Tetsuaki
T
Tsuji
Yasushi
Y
Kambe
Nobuaki
N