Eric Buhler

Room Temperature Dynamic Polymers Based on Diels–Alder Chemistry

Dynamers based on reversible Diels-Alder chemistry have been obtained and shown to undergo dynamic exchange at room temperature. Their study in solution by small-angle neutron scattering indicated the formation of long and highly flexible chains. Polydispersed molecules gave T(g) values below room temperature, permitting the generation of a dynamic elastomer upon introduction of a dynamic cross-linking agent. The use of a system with a low equilibrium constant gives access to materials with interesting self-healing properties.

Muscle‐like Supramolecular Polymers: Integrated Motion from Thousands of Molecular Machines

Pumping iron: Double-threaded rotaxanes can be linked to coordination units and polymerized in the presence of iron or zinc ions. pH modulation triggers cooperative contractions (or extensions) of the individual rotaxanes, thus resulting in an amplified motion of the muscle-like supramolecular chains with changes of their contour lengths of several micrometers (see picture).

Glycodynamers: dynamic polymers bearing oligosaccharides residues--generation, structure, physicochemical, component exchange, and lectin binding properties.

Dynamic glycopolymers have been generated by polycondensation through acylhydrazone formation between components bearing lateral bioactive oligosaccharide chains. They have been characterized as bottlebrush type by cryo-TEM and SANS studies. They present remarkable fluorescence properties whose emission wavelengths depend on the constitution of the polymer and are tunable by constitutional modification through exchange/incorporation of components, thus also demonstrating their dynamic character. Constitution-dependent binding of these glycodynamers to a lectin, peanut agglutinin, has been demonstrated.

Biodynamers: Self-Organization-Driven Formation of Doubly Dynamic Proteoids

Polypeptide-type dynamic biopolymers (biodynamers) have been generated by polycondensation via acylhydrazone and imine formation of amino-acid-derived components that polymerize driven by self-organization. They have been characterized as globular particles, reminiscent of folded proteins, by cryo-TEM, LS, DOSY NMR, and SANS studies. The reversible polymers obtained show remarkably low dispersity and feature double covalent dynamics allowing for fine-tuning of both exchange and incorporation processes through pH control. In the course of build-up, they perform a selection of the most suitable building block, as indicated by the preferential incorporation of the more hydrophobic amino-acid component with increased rate and higher molecular weight of the polymer formed. The system described displays nucleation-elongation behavior driven by hydrophobic effects and represents a model for the operation of adaptation processes in the evolution of complex matter.

Reversible constitutional switching between macrocycles and polymers induced by shape change in a dynamic covalent system

We report here the development of morphological switches as a new tool that can be used in constitutional dynamic chemistry (CDC) to control the constitution of the whole dynamic system. Molecules that have well-defined but switchable shapes were designed and synthesized. Their restrained conformational states were characterized both in the solid and in solution. The addition of metal ions induces a shape change through coordination; the shape generated was also fully investigated both in the solid and in solution. Such molecules constitute morphological switches, meaning that they can explore various shape states as a result of controlled well-defined shape changes triggered by an effector. These morphological switches were then integrated into covalent dynamic systems through formation of reversible imine bonds. Thermodynamic and kinetic analyses were performed in order to quantify the covalent equilibrium and to investigate the labile character of the covalent reversible link. It was then demonstrated that the molecular shape state of the morphological switches induces a well-defined constitution through covalent self-assembly, and that the system can be steered, quantitatively and reversibly without significant fatigue, between two different constitutional states, respectively, polymeric and macrocyclic assemblies. The dynamic covalent polymeric assemblies were analysed by DOSY NMR and small angle neutrons scattering (SANS). Their dynamic behaviour as a function of the concentration and the temperature was demonstrated and characterized.

Hierarchical Self-Assembly of Supramolecular Muscle-Like Fibers

An acid-base switchable [c2]daisy chain rotaxane terminated with two 2,6-diacetylamino pyridine units has been self-assembled with a bis(uracil) linker. The complementary hydrogen-bond recognition patterns, together with lateral van der Waals aggregations, result in the hierarchical formation of unidimensional supramolecular polymers associated in bundles of muscle-like fibers. Microscopic and scattering techniques reveal that the mesoscopic structure of these bundles depends on the extended or contracted states that the rotaxanes show within individual polymer chains. The observed local dynamics span over several length scales because of a combination of supramolecular and mechanical bonds. This work illustrates the possibility to modify the hierarchical mesoscopic structuring of large polymeric systems by the integrated actuation of individual molecular machines.

Controlled Sol–Gel Transitions by Actuating Molecular Machine Based Supramolecular Polymers

The implementation of artificial molecular machines in polymer science is an important objective that challenges chemists and physicists in order to access an entirely new class of smart materials. To design such systems, the amplification of a mechanical actuation from the nanoscale up to a macroscopic response in the bulk material is a central issue. In this article we show that bistable [c2]daisy chain rotaxanes (i.e., molecular muscles) can be linked into main-chain Upy-based supramolecular polymers. We then reveal by an in depth quantitative study that the pH actuation of the mechanically active rotaxane at the nanoscale influences the physical reticulation of the polymer chains by changing the supramolecular behavior of the Upy units. This nanoactuation within the local structure of the main chain polymer results in a mechanically controlled sol-gel transition at the macroscopic level.

Multivalency by Self‐Assembly: Binding of Concanavalin A to Metallosupramolecular Architectures Decorated with Multiple Carbohydrate Groups

Multiplication of functional units through self-assembly is a powerful way to new properties and functions. In particular, self-organization of components decorated with recognition groups leads to multivalent entities, amenable to strong and selective binding with multivalent targets, such as protein receptors. Here we describe an efficient, supramolecular, one-pot valency multiplication process proceeding through self-organization of monovalent components into well-defined, grid-shaped [2×2] tetranuclear complexes bearing eight sugar residues for multivalent interaction with the tetrameric lectin, concanavalin A (Con A). The grids are stable in water under physiological pH at a relatively high concentration, but dissociate readily at slightly more acidic pH or upon dilution below a certain threshold, in a type of on-off behavior. The carbohydrate-decorated grids interact strongly and selectively with Con A forming triply supramolecular bio-hybrid polymeric networks, which lead to a highly specific phase-separation and quasi-quantitative precipitation of Con A out of solution. Dramatic effects of valency number on agglutination properties were demonstrated by comparison of grids with divalent carbohydrates of covalent and non-covalent (L-shaped, mononuclear zinc complex) scaffolds. The results presented here provide prototypical illustration of the power of multivalency generation by self-assembly leading to defined arrays of functional groups and binding patterns.

SANS, SAXS, and light scattering investigations of pH-responsive dynamic combinatorial mesophases

The structural variations of dynamic combinatorial mesophases are investigated in dilute aqueous solutions by a combination of small-angle-neutron, X-ray, and light scattering. The supramolecular structures are composed of self-assembled dynamic covalent hydrophobic and hydrophilic blocks (Dynablocks), linked together by reversible and pH-dependent imine bonds. When several Dynablocks compete from a set of constituents, it is possible to tune their molecular associations by pH modulation, which results in structuring variations of the supramolecular self-assemblies. We here demonstrate that even complex supramolecular mixtures of micellar and vesicular Dynablocks libraries can be quantitatively characterized by the complementarity of these three scattering techniques. It becomes thus envisageable for chemists to design very elaborated stimuli-responsive mesophases based on these objects which represent a new class of “smart” soft materials.

Light-triggered self-assembly of triarylamine-based nanospheres

Tailored triarylamine units modified with terpyridine ligands were coordinated to Zn(2+) ions and characterized as discrete dimeric entities. Interestingly, when these complexes were subsequently irradiated with simple visible light in chloroform, they readily self-assembled into monodisperse spheres with a mean diameter of 160 nm.