Chirality responsive helical poly(phenylacetylene) bearing L-proline pendants.

A novel, optically active, cis-transoidal poly(phenylacetylene) bearing an L-proline residue as the pendant group (poly-1) was prepared by the polymerization of the corresponding monomer using a rhodium catalyst in water, and its chiroptical property was investigated using circular dichroism spectroscopy. Poly-1 showed intense Cotton effects in the UV-visible region of the polymer backbone in water, resulting from the prevailing one-handed helical conformation induced by the covalent-bonded chiral L-proline pendants and exhibited a unique helix-sense inversion in response to external, achiral, and chiral stimuli, such as the solvent and interactions with chiral small molecules. We found that poly-1 could enantioselectively trap 1,1'-2-binaphthol within its hydrophobic helical cavity inside the polymer in aqueous media and underwent an inversion of its helical sense in the presence of one of the enantiomers. The effect of the optical purity of 1,1'-2-binaphthol on the chiroptical properties of poly-1 was also investigated.

Temperature-induced chiroptical changes in a helical poly(phenylacetylene) bearing N,N-diisopropylaminomethyl groups with chiral acids in water.

A stereoregular poly(phenylacetylene) bearing an N,N-diisopropylaminomethyl group as the pendant (poly-1) changed its structure into the prevailing one-handed helical conformation upon complexation with optically active acids in water. The complexes exhibited induced circular dichroism (ICD) in the UV/Vis region of the polymer backbone. Poly-1 is highly sensitive to the chirality of chiral acids and can detect a small enantiomeric imbalance in these acids, in particular, phenyl lactic acid in water. For example, a 0.005% enantiomeric excess of phenyl lactic acid can be detected by CD spectroscopy. The observed ICD intensity and pattern of poly-1 were dependent on the temperature and concentration of poly-1, probably due to aggregations of the polymer at high temperature as revealed by dynamic light scattering and AFM. On the basis of the temperature-dependent ICD changes, the preferred chiral helical sense of poly-1 was found to be controlled by noncovalent bonding interactions by using structurally different enantiomeric acids.

Nonracemic dopant-mediated hierarchical amplification of macromolecular helicity in a charged polyacetylene leading to a cholesteric liquid crystal in water.

Here we show the first example of a helical polyacetylene that forms a lyotropic liquid crystal (LC) through a hierarchical amplification of a macromolecular helicity process in water. The macromolecular helicity with an excess of one helical sense was first induced in the positively charged polyacetylene upon complexation with an extremely small oppositely charged nonracemic dopant through electrostatic interaction in water. Subsequently, the helicity was significantly amplified in the polymer backbone as an almost perfect single-handed helix through self-assembly into supramolecular helical arrays in a lyotropic cholesteric state. The present results will allow the detection of a tiny imbalance in chiral molecules and also provide new approaches for the design of novel water-soluble helical architectures and the construction of new chiral materials in areas such as biotechnology and materials science.

Cavity-directed synthesis within a self-assembled coordination cage: highly selective [2 + 2] cross-photodimerization of olefins.

Herein reported is the highly selective [2 + 2] cross-photodimerization of olefins within a self-assembled coordination cage that acts as a molecular flask in an aqueous medium. An M(6)L(4) coordination nanocage that self-assembles from six Pd(II) complexes and four tridentate ligands accommodates two different kinds of large olefin molecules such as acenaphthylene and 5-ethoxynaphthoquinone in a pairwise selective fashion. This prerequisite recognition mode makes possible the selective [2 + 2] cross-photodimerization of the olefins within the cavity. The reaction is extremely efficient in terms of reaction rate, stereoselectivity, and, most importantly, pairwise selectivity. Maleimide derivatives, which themselves are photochemically inactive under ordinary conditions, are also cross-dimerized with acenaphthylene or dibenzosuberenon quite efficiently. These results are in sharp contrast to those of common photodimerization in organic media, where the yields and selectivities are generally poor to moderate. The key step of the exclusive formation of the cross-dimers stems from the selective formation of ternary complexes before irradiation, which is governed by the size compatibility of the guests with the confined space of the cavity.