Rotaxane-Based Difunctional Nitrile N-Oxide Crosslinker: Synthesis and Direct Introduction of Movable Crosslinking Points into Ethylene-Propylene-Butadiene Monomer (EPDM) Rubber.

Incorporation of rotaxane scaffolds into the crosslinking points of polymer networks significantly affects their rheological and mechanical properties. The present study involves the synthesis of a new rotaxane-type crosslinker containing nitrile N-oxide functional groups on both the axle and wheel components. The prepared crosslinker is highly reactive; however, it can be isolated and applied in the crosslinking reaction of a commercially important polymer, namely ethylene-propylene-butadiene monomer rubber (EPDM), in the absence of additives and catalysts.

Top-down preparation of self-supporting supramolecular polymeric membranes using highly selective photocyclic aromatization of cis-cisoid helical poly(phenylacetylene)s in the membrane state.

A novel, highly selective photocyclic aromatization (SCAT) of π-conjugated polymers from phenylacetylene having two hydroxyl groups to exclusively yield a 1,3,5-trisubstituted benzene derivative was developed, and its success was confirmed by (1)H NMR, GPC, and TOF-MS. The SCAT reaction has many unique characteristics. (1) It is a quantitative reaction: it gave only the corresponding cyclic trimer, i.