We report star polymer metal-organic cage (polyMOC) materials whose structures, mechanical properties, functionalities, and dynamics can all be precisely tailored through a simple threecomponent assembly strategy. The star polyMOC network is composed of tetra-arm star polymers functionalized with ligands on the chain ends, small molecule ligands, and palladium ions; polyMOCs are formed via metal-ligand coordination and thermal annealing. The ratio of small molecule ligands to polymer-bound ligands determines the connectivity of the MOC junctions and the network structure. The use of large M 12 L 24 MOCs enables great flexibility in tuning this ratio, which provides access to a rich spectrum of material properties including tunable moduli and relaxation dynamics.
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Author ManuscriptA three-component assembly strategy is reported that enables the creation of a versatile class of polymer metal-organic cage (polyMOC) networks with tailored microstructures, mechanical properties, functionalities, and network dynamics.
KeywordsMetal-organic cage; Metal-organic polyhedra; Polymer network; Metallosupramolecular assembly; Gel; PolyMOC Polymer networks are versatile materials with a wide range of structures and properties suitable for industrial and academic applications. [1][2][3] In a typical network, macromolecules of choice are connected to branched junctions of a particular type; the nature of these components determines the material's properties such as stiffness, toughness, responsiveness, etc. [2] Several strategies have been developed to tune polymer network structure in order to realize desirable properties. For example, interpenetrating networks, [4][5] nanocomposites, [6] and reversible and/or dynamic covalent bonds [7] are employed to yield materials with self-healing, stimuli-responsive, and other valuable behaviors. [7][8] In all of these cases, control over network structure and dynamics is critical. In this communication, we describe a versatile and simple strategy for controlling structure, function, and dynamics in a relatively new class of polymer networks that is based on the use of large metal-organic cages/polyhedra (MOCs).MOCs are discrete 3D structures assembled from x metal ions and y organic ligands via coordination bonds. [9][10][11][12][13][14][15][16][17][18][19][20][21][22] By rational design of the ligands and proper choice of the metal ions, MOCs of different M x L y stoichiometries, sizes, and geometries can be synthesized. [23][24][25][26][27][28][29] Inspired by this structural versatility and potential applications such as mechanical enhancement, catalysis, encapsulation, sensing, etc., much effort has been recently devoted to installing MOCs into polymer networks to provide 'polyMOC' hybrid materials with tunable viscoelasticity and functionality. [30][31][32][33][34][35][36][37] One [30,[38][39][40][41][42] ; however, there is still a great need to understand how polyMOC microstructure translates to bulk ...