Skip to main content

Thank you for visiting nature.com. You are using a browser version with limited support for CSS. To obtain the best experience, we recommend you use a more up to date browser (or turn off compatibility mode in Internet Explorer). In the meantime, to ensure continued support, we are displaying the site without styles and JavaScript.

Stereocontrolled polymerization

Porphyrins pave the way to precision polymers

Nature Synthesis volume 2, pages 811–812 (2023)Cite this article

Subjects

Stereocontrolled radical polymerizations are elusive, owing to the difficulty of controlling facial addition at a propagating planar, sp2 radical chain end. Now, cobalt–porphyrin initiators are reported that enable the preparation of well-defined, highly isotactic polyacrylamides at low Lewis acid loading.

Polymer tacticity, or relative stereochemical architecture, plays a critical role in determining the physical properties of a synthetic macromolecule. Particularly in the case of vinyl polymers, methodologies that offer control over the stereochemical outcome of each monomer addition (stereocontrolled polymerizations) have led to the discovery of emergent properties from previously niche materials1. Vinyl monomers are an example of prochiral molecules, which have no embedded stereochemical information but can be transformed into molecules comprised of at least one stereocentre through a single reaction. Practically, this presents a synthetic challenge whereby total control over the facial addition of each monomer must be disconnected from the molecular structure of the monomer.

This is a preview of subscription content, access via your institution

Access options

Rent or buy this article

Prices vary by article type

from$1.95

to$39.95

Learn more

Prices may be subject to local taxes which are calculated during checkout

Fig. 1: Lewis-acid-tethered cobalt–porphyrin complexes enable preparation of isotactic polyacrylamides.

References

  1. Worch, J. C. et al. Nat. Rev. Chem. 3, 514–535 (2019).

    Article  CAS  Google Scholar 

  2. Satoh, K. & Kamigaito, M. Chem. Rev. 109, 5120–5156 (2009).

    Article  CAS  PubMed  Google Scholar 

  3. Zhang, X., Lin, F., Cao, M. & Zhong, M. Nat. Synth. https://doi.org/10.1038/s44160-023-00311-9 (2023).

    Article  Google Scholar 

  4. Teator, A. J., Varner, T. P., Knutson, P. C., Sorensen, C. C. & Leibfarth, F. A. ACS Macro Lett. 9, 1638–1654 (2020).

    Article  CAS  PubMed  Google Scholar 

  5. Zhao, Y., Yu, M. & Fu, X. Chem. Commun. 49, 5186–5188 (2013).

    Article  CAS  Google Scholar 

Download references

Author information

Author notes

  1. Twitter: @AaronTeator

Authors and Affiliations

  1. Department of Chemistry, University of Kansas, Lawrence, KS, USA

    Kasun Wekasinghe & Aaron J. Teator

Authors
  1. Kasun Wekasinghe
    View author publications

    You can also search for this author in PubMed Google Scholar

  2. Aaron J. Teator
    View author publications

    You can also search for this author in PubMed Google Scholar

Corresponding author

Correspondence to Aaron J. Teator.

Ethics declarations

Competing interests

The authors declare no competing interests.

Rights and permissions

Reprints and Permissions

About this article

Check for updates. Verify currency and authenticity via CrossMark

Cite this article

Wekasinghe, K., Teator, A.J. Porphyrins pave the way to precision polymers. Nat. Synth 2, 811–812 (2023). https://doi.org/10.1038/s44160-023-00338-y

Download citation

  • Published:

  • Issue Date:

  • DOI: https://doi.org/10.1038/s44160-023-00338-y

Search

Advanced search

Quick links

Nature Briefing

Sign up for the Nature Briefing newsletter — what matters in science, free to your inbox daily.

Get the most important science stories of the day, free in your inbox. Sign up for Nature Briefing