L-Proline and N-methoxyethyl glycine have been included in novel cyclic hexameric peptoids. Supramolecular coordination with Na(+) triggered the formation of the first 1D metal-organic framework based on peptoids.

A monoclinic δ‐clathrate form of syndiotactic polystyrene (s‐PS) with carvacrol (a relevant natural phenolic antimicrobial) has been prepared and characterized by X‐ray diffraction. Very informative are Fourier transform infrared spectra, in particular their OH stretching region that shows a narrow peak and a broad band, corresponding to carvacrol molecules being isolated guest of the co‐crystalline phase or dissolved in the amorphous phase, respectively. Analogous spectral features allow discriminating, for many different s‐PS guests, between molecules being in crystalline or in amorphous phases. s‐PS co‐crystalline films with carvacrol molecules being prevailingly (more than 90%) guest of the co‐crystalline phase have been prepared, even for high carvacrol content (up to 10–11 wt %). The location of most antimicrobial molecules in the crystalline phase assures a decrease of desorption diffusivity of two to three orders and hence long‐term antimicrobial release. © 2014 Wiley Periodicals, Inc. J. Polym. Sci. Part B: Polym. Phys. 2014, 52, 657–665

The degree of circular polarization (g-value) of infrared and UV−vis bands of melt-extruded syndiotactic polystyrene (s-PS) films of different thickness, as induced by cocrystallization with a nonracemic guest ((R)-(−) or (S)-(+) carvone), and of their nonracemic and achiral guests has been studied. The induced circular dichroism (CD) phenomena, both for polymer host and for chromophore guests, are maximized for films with thickness of few micrometers. Surprisingly, for all the examined thicknesses and spectral ranges, the chiral response of the considered achiral guests (azulene and 4-nitroaniline) is definitely higher than for the chirality-inducing nonracemic guest (carvone). This clearly indicates that the origin of the chiral optical response is extrinsic to the site of photon absorption. In agreement with this extrinsic nature, a comparison of g-value for host and guest peaks of melt-extruded and spin-coated s-PS films indicates that the observed chiral response is an extensive property. The reported results also confirm that the intense chiral responses of s-PS films are associated with a nonracemic helical morphology of crystallites, as induced by the nonracemic guest.

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