While conventional, covalently bonded polymers dominate the materials market, supramolecular polymers are continually gaining attention due to the inherent reversibility found in these materials.  We reasoned that if the reversibility found in non-covalent systems could be coupled with the stability found in more traditional polymers, then the best of both worlds could be obtained, namely stable materials with error-checking and self-repair capabilities.  Boronate ester formation, with its covalent yet reversible nature, maintains all of the desired attributes of self-assembling materials including ease of synthesis and dynamic self-repair capabilities while at the same time offering stable covalently linked materials by a route often times more facile than conventional polymer synthesis. Recent progress towards generating environmentally stable boronate ester linked materials will be presented.  Specifically, the hydrolytic stability of Covalent Organic Frameworks (COFs) and linear polymers in the solid state can be manipulated via simple structural modifications and post-polymerization processing.  Structural modifications can be made to the monomer units prior to reaction or functionality can be added post-polymerization to impact the rate of hydrolysis for these dynamic covalent polymers.  Additionally, treatment of the polymer products, using reduced pressure or thermal processing, can further change the stability of the poly(boronate) materials.  These straightforward techniques can be used to predictably alter the polymer stability 50- to 100-fold.  Associated changes in the mechanical and physical properties of these modified poly(boronate)s will also be presented.

Towards controlling the stability of main-chain poly(boronate)s: Chemical approaches to regulate ester hydrolysis

247th National Meeting (2014)

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