Template Systems with Donor-Acceptor Interactions

Donor-acceptor interaction between monomer and polymer template offers an elegant methods of replication degree of polymerization. Similar system was described for copolymerization of vinylpyridine with p-chlorostyrene in the presence of poly(maleic anhydride) used as template. " ... 

The solvent should be capable of fully solubilizing the monomers and template in one pot. For monomer-template interactions stabilized by polar forces, non-protic solvents of low polarity should be chosen, since they are less likely to compete with the monomers for the template. The functional monomer-template complexes are often based on hydrogen bond interactions. If the solvent is a good hydrogen bond donor or acceptor, it will compete with the monomers and destabilize the complexes. For monomer-template systems stabilized by solvatophoic forces, more polar solvents and higher temperatures may be favorable. 

Hydrogen bonds (H-bonds) are ideal noncovalent interactions to construct supramolecular nanoporous architectures since they are highly selective and directional [16]. H-bonds are formed when a donor with an available acidic hydrogen atom interacts with an acceptor that carries available nonbonding electron lone pairs. The strength of the H-bond depends mainly on the solvent and number and sequence of the H-bond donors and acceptors. Various supramolecular polymer materials have been developed which use H-bonds as structural element to position molecules. After removal of these molecular templates, a porous material is obtained to fabricate molecule specific systems. 

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