Mechanically linked polycarbonate.

Fustin, Charles-André [UCL] Bailly, Christian [UCL] Clarkson, Guy J De Groote, Philippe Galow, Trent H Leigh, David A Robertson, Duncan Slawin, Alexandra M Z Wong, Jenny K Y et al.[show all]

The synthesis, by solid-state copolymerization, and characterization of the first polycatenanes based on a commercial polymer are reported. Various amounts of a benzylic amide [2]catenane, the corresponding macrocycle, and a rigid bisphenol fluorene derivative have been quantitatively and homogeneously incorporated into bisphenol A polycarbonate. The resulting copolymers were characterized by size exclusion chromatography coupled with viscosimetry, (1)H NMR, differential scanning calorimetry, and dynamic mechanical analysis. The unexpectedly small influence of [2]catenane incorporation on the glass transition temperature of the copolymers points to remarkable internal mobility of the catenane comonomer rings. A new relaxation linked to the flexible catenane units is also observed. The studies represent a detailed structural characterization of a polymer containing small amounts of mechanical linkages in its backbone and demonstrate that significant effects can be induced by doping conventional polymers with small percentages (2-6% of repeat units) of flexible catenanes.