Vicinal Frustrated Lewis Pair Polymers for Dynamic, Stimuli-Responsive, and Energy-Dissipating Materials
Abstract
Stimuli-responsive polymers are materials with physical properties that can be altered by exposure to a specific trigger, such as heat, light, mechanical force, or numerous other stimuli. The ability to predictably, purposefully, and repeatably induce changes in material properties could enable stimuli-responsive polymers to serve as autonomously functional materials akin to living systems. Chemical triggers represent versatile stimuli for modulating material properties, but chemically responsive systems with reversible behavior are challenging to engineer in solid-state materials, particularly for minimally reactive, gaseous small molecule stimuli. Frustrated Lewis Pairs (FLPs) are a class of Lewis acid (LAs)-Lewis base (LBs) pairs that reversibly bind a variety of small molecules, including unreactive gases. This unique reactivity offers exciting possibilities for stimuli-responsive materials, but incorporation of FLPs into polymers remains underdeveloped. This proposal seeks to create polymers that contain vicinal FLPs—FLPs where the LA and LB are spatially adjacent—in order to elicit small molecule-responsive, reconfigurable behavior in the solid state. Our synthetic approach to preparing vicinal FLP polymers envisages an addition elimination-mechanism for the direct transfer of the LB and LA to an alkene. Development of a general synthetic methodology for FLP transfer will enable access to a variety of vicinal FLP polymers in a highly efficient and divergent manner. This advance will open the door to a library of structurally diverse FLP polymers and will enable us to characterize fundamental structure-property relationships in a novel class of materials, which we anticipate will show dynamic property changes induced by gaseous triggers, heat, light, pressure, and mechanical force.
Document Details
- Document Type
- DoD Grant Award
- Publication Date
- Feb 29, 2024
- Source ID
- FA95502310079
Entities
People
- Nathan Romero
Organizations
- Air Force Office of Scientific Research
- United States Air Force
- University of California, San Diego