R&D: Rapidly Sequence-Controlled Electrosynthesis of Organometallic Polymers

Nature Communications has published an article written by Jian Zhang, State Key Laboratory of Polymer Physics and Chemistry, Changchun Institute of Applied Chemistry, Chinese Academy of Sciences, Changchun, 130022, China, and University of Chinese Academy of Sciences, Beijing, 100049, China, Jinxin Wang, Chang Wei, State Key Laboratory of Polymer Physics and Chemistry, Changchun Institute of Applied Chemistry, Chinese Academy of Sciences, Changchun, 130022, China, and University of Science and Technology of China, Hefei, 230026, China, Yanfang Wang, State Key Laboratory of Polymer Physics and Chemistry, Changchun Institute of Applied Chemistry, Chinese Academy of Sciences, Changchun, 130022, China, Guanyu Xie, Yongfang Li, State Key Laboratory of Polymer Physics and Chemistry, Changchun Institute of Applied Chemistry, Chinese Academy of Sciences, Changchun, 130022, China, and University of Science and Technology of China, Hefei, 230026, China, Mao Li, State Key Laboratory of Polymer Physics and Chemistry, Changchun Institute of Applied Chemistry, Chinese Academy of Sciences, Changchun, 130022, China, and University of Chinese Academy of Sciences, Beijing, 100049, China.

Abstract: “Single rich-stimuli-responsive organometallic polymers are considered to be the candidate for ultrahigh information storage and anti-counterfeiting security. However, their controllable synthesis has been an unsolved challenge. Here, we report the rapidly sequence-controlled electrosynthesis of organometallic polymers with exquisite insertion of multiple and distinct monomers. Electrosynthesis relies on the use of oxidative and reductive C–C couplings with the respective reaction time of one min. Single-monomer-precision propagation does not need protecting and deprotecting steps used in solid-phase synthesis, while enabling the uniform synthesis and sequence-defined possibilities monitored by both UV–vis spectra and cyclic voltammetry. Highly efficient electrosynthesis possessing potentially automated production can incorporate an amount of available metal and ligand species into a single organometallic polymer with complex architectures and functional versatility, which is proposed to have ultrahigh information storage and anti-counterfeiting security with low-cost coding and decoding processes at the single organometallic polymer level.“