Controlling π-Conjugated Polymer-Acceptor Interactions by Designing Polymers with a Mixture of π-Face Strapped and Nonstrapped Monomers.

Controlling π-conjugated polymer-acceptor complex interaction, including the interaction strength and location along the polymer backbone, is central to organic electronics and energy applications. Straps in the strapped π-conjugated polymers mask the π-face of the polymer backbone and hence are useful to control the interactions of the π-face of the polymer backbone with other polymer chains and small molecules compared to the conventional pendant solubilizing chains. Herein, we have synthesized a series of strapped π-conjugated copolymers containing a mixture of strapped and nonstrapped comonomers to control the polymer-acceptor interactions.

Using molecular straps to engineer conjugated porous polymer growth, chemical doping, and conductivity.

Controlling network growth and architecture of 3D-conjugated porous polymers (CPPs) is challenging and therefore has limited the ability to systematically tune the network architecture and study its impact on doping efficiency and conductivity. We have proposed that π-face masking straps mask the π-face of the polymer backbone and therefore help to control π-π interchain interactions in higher dimensional π-conjugated materials unlike the conventional linear alkyl pendant solubilizing chains that are incapable of masking the π-face. Herein, we used cycloaraliphane-based π-face masking strapped monomers and show that the strapped repeat units, unlike the conventional monomers, help to overcome the strong interchain π-π interactions, extend network residence time, tune network growth, and increase chemical doping and conductivity in 3D-conjugated porous polymers.

Molecular tetrominoes: selective masking of the donor π-face to control the configuration of donor-acceptor complexes.

Understanding the doping mechanism in organic semiconductors and generating molecular design rules to control the doping process are crucial for improving the performance of organic electronics. Even though controlling the location and orientation of the dopant along the semiconductor backbone is an important step in the doping mechanism, studies in this direction are scarce as it is a challenging task. To address this, herein, we incorporated π-face masked (strapped) units in 1,4-bis(phenylethynylene)benzene (donor) to control the acceptor (dopant) location along the trimer, donor-acceptor binding strength, and acceptor ionization.

1,6-heptadiynes based cyclopolymerization functionalized with mannose by post polymer modification for protein interaction.

Carbohydrate functionalized polymers or Glycopolymers have earned a great deal of interest in recent times for their potential biomedical applications. In the present study, a mannose containing glycopolymer was synthesized by cyclopolymerization of malonic acid derivative using second generation Hoveyda Grubbs' catalyst. Post-polymerization modification was done to install a propargyl moiety.

β-Strand inspired bifacial π-conjugated polymers.

Access to diverse, relatively high molecular weight soluble linear polymers without pendant solubilizing chains is the key to solution state synthesis of structurally diverse nanoribbons of conjugated materials. However, realizing soluble 1D-π-conjugated polymers without pendant solubilizing chains is a daunting task. Herein, inspired from the polypeptide β-strand architecture, we have designed and developed novel bifacial π-conjugated polymers ( : 24 kDa) that are soluble ( 70 to >250 mM) despite the absence of pendant solubilizing chains.