Construction of Supramolecular Polymers Based on Host‐Guest Recognition^†

Abstract

What is the most favorite and original chemistry developed in your research group? The establishment of two new types of host-guest recognition building blocks (21-crown-7/secondary ammonium salt and pillar[5]arene/alkyl chain) for supramolecular polymers. How do you get into this specific field? Could you please share some experiences with our readers? I got my introduction to supramolecular chemistry during the postgraduate period. There are many phenomena closely related to the weak non-covalent interactions in nature, such as the storage and transmission of genetic information through the DNA double helix structure. Inspired by these fascinating natural phenomena, scientists try to use non-covalent interactions to prepare many very complex self-assembled systems including supramolecular polymers from natural and artificially designed structural units. In 1987, Lehn, Cram, and Pederson won the Nobel Prize for their contribution to supramolecular chemistry. At present, supra-molecular chemistry has developed into an emerging discipline formed by the intersection of chemistry, physics, life sciences, materials science, and electronic engineering. How do you supervise your students? Lead by example, teach students according to their aptitude, strive for excellence, and be a teacher and a friend. What is the most important personality for scientific research? Curiosity, thinking, hard work, and concentration. What's your hobbies? What's your favorite book(s)? Hiking and reading. Swordmen novels. How do you keep balance between research and family? Reasonable arrangement and choice. Who influences you mostly in your life? My grandmother. She taught me: "No pains, no gains".

Influence of Monomers’ Structure on the Assembly and Material Property of Pillar[5]arene‐Based Supramolecular Polymer Gels

“…In recent years, supramolecular polymer gels (SPGs) [ 1‐3 ] have garnered increasing attentions in the material science field due to their unique properties and broad applications. Up to now, lots of SPGs have been constructed via non‐covalent interactions, [ 4‐6 ] such as supramolecular polymer network gels (SPNGs), [ 7‐11 ] supramolecular polymer organic framework gels (SOFGs), [ 12‐13 ] and other type SPGs. [ 14‐15 ] On the other hand, the inherent dynamic, reversible, and adaptive properties of non‐covalent bond interactions endow SPGs with excellent properties.…”

Self‐Assembly of Peapod‐like Micrometer Tubes from a Planet‐Satellite‐type Supramolecular Megamer

“…Supramolecular polymers (SPs), which are based on monomeric or macromonomeric units held together with directional and reversible secondary interactions, can respond to external stimuli in a way that cannot be achieved by traditional macromolecules [1–25] . Accordingly, SPs have some unique and dynamic characteristics such as self‐healing ability, ease of degradation, and reversibility, which have potential applications in recyclable/renewable materials, drug delivery, light‐harvesting, and catalysis [2, 3, 15–25] . To date, SPs with linear, graft, brush, star, dendritic, linear‐dendritic, Janus dendritic, and network‐like molecular topologies have been reported [17–21, 26–30] .…”

Crown Ether‐Based Supramolecular Polymers: From Synthesis to Self‐Assembly

“…Huang and co-workers comprehensively reviewed the research process for CSPs in an earlier year. [20][21][22] Nevertheless, a systematic summary of the recognition motifs, fabri-cation methods, topological architectures, functional characteristics, and stimuli-responsiveness of CSPs has not been published. Herein, the review summarizes the researches progress of CSPs depending on various preparation strategies and topological architectures.…”