Helical double stranded polymers incorporated with a covalently bound chiral ferrocene linker are synthesised and characterized by CD spectra and STM images and molecular dynamics simulations.

Dihydroxylation of double-stranded poly(bisnorbornene) (6) with a ferrocene linker gives the corresponding poly(bisnorbornanediol) (15) diasteroselectively. The structures of polymers were characterized by spectroscopic means and STM images. Hydrolysis of 6 gives the corresponding isotactic singlestranded polynorbornene (12) having similar polydispersity and degree of polymerization as those of 6. The STM image of the hydrogenated double-stranded polymer 13 clearly shows the double-stranded structure, and the spacing between two neighboring ferrocene linkers is 0.6 nm. In addition, poly(bisnorbornanediol) (15) forms ordered aggregation assembled via hydrogen bonding in both longitudinal and horizontal dimensions.