Templated synthesis of cyclic poly(ionic liquid)s

TL;DR

This paper introduces a novel templated synthesis method for cyclic poly(ionic liquid)s, overcoming challenges associated with charged cyclic polymers by using cyclic templates and click chemistry.

Contribution

It presents a new templated approach to synthesize cyclic poly(ionic liquid)s, expanding the toolkit for creating charged cyclic polymers with diverse structures.

Findings

Successful synthesis of cyclic poly(ionic liquid)s with various counter anions

Development of a ring-closure method using light-induced Diels-Alder reactions

Versatile templated approach applicable to different cyclic templates

Abstract

Charged cyclic polymers, e.g. cyclic DNAs and polypeptides, play enabling roles in organisms, but their synthesis was challenging due to the well known polyelectrolyte effect. To tackle the challenge, we developed a templated method to synthesize a library of imidazolium and pyridinium based cyclic poly(ionic liquid)s. Cyclic templates, cyclic polyimidazole and poly(2-pyridine), were synthesized first through ring-closure method by light-induced Diels-Alder click reaction. Through quaternization of cyclic templates followed by anion metathesis, the cyclic poly(ionic liquid)s were synthesized, which paired with varied counter anions.