Boronate-linked materials

Though the earliest references associated with boronate-linked materials date back to the 1950s, it has only been in the last 10-20 years that great strides have been made using these covalent-reversible boronic acid-diol interactions. 

Boronate ester formation has proven to be a facile alternative to traditional polymer assembly, given the ease of synthesis and dynamie reversibility to afford error-checking mechanisms during synthesis. Compared to conventional supramolecular polymers, boronate-linked materials display enhanced stability. It is argued that boronate ester formation takes the best from both worlds. 

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