Deepak, Tommaso Marchetti, Federico Rastrelli, Luca Gabrielli, Leonard J Prins
{"title":"\"Click\" formation of the imine bond in water.","authors":"Deepak, Tommaso Marchetti, Federico Rastrelli, Luca Gabrielli, Leonard J Prins","doi":"10.1039/d6sc06874j","DOIUrl":"10.1039/d6sc06874j","url":null,"abstract":"<p><p>The imine bond is a cornerstone of supramolecular chemistry because it combines stability and reversibility with ease of formation and the availability of a large number of precursors. Yet, the low hydrolytic stability of imines poses an important limitation as it prevents their application in water. Here, we show imine bond formation in water with the characteristics of a 'click' reaction: fast, quantitative and selective using reactants in a stoichiometric ratio at sub millimolar concentrations. Our strategy relies on the presence of a Zn(ii)-metal complex in one of the precursors that binds and preorganizes the other reactant, activates the carbonyl for nucleophilic attack and stabilizes the imine through coordination. The reaction proceeds with fast kinetics (<i>k</i> ∼5 M<sup>-1</sup> s<sup>-1</sup>) and yields a highly stable imine (<i>K</i> > 10<sup>5</sup> M<sup>-1</sup>) at neutral pH. Imine formation remains effective in a complex chemical matrix such as <i>E. coli</i> cell lysate. It is further shown that structural tuning of the building blocks enables efficient imine bond formation using either aromatic or aliphatic amines without requiring any other functional groups. The imines obtained following this strategy enable dynamic combinatorial chemistry at submillimolar concentrations in water.</p>","PeriodicalId":9909,"journal":{"name":"Chemical Science","volume":" ","pages":""},"PeriodicalIF":8.1,"publicationDate":"2026-10-02","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC13647122/pdf/","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"149135224","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":1,"RegionCategory":"化学","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"OA","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}
{"title":"Simultaneous enhancement of photoluminescence and spin-polarization lifetime in a carbazole-functionalized TTM diradical.","authors":"Di Zhang, Xiao Xiao, Cheng Chen, Gengyuan Li, Yibo Han, Shang-Da Jiang, Dahui Zhao","doi":"10.1039/d6sc03583c","DOIUrl":"https://doi.org/10.1039/d6sc03583c","url":null,"abstract":"<p><p>Luminescent organic radicals with multiple spins are emerging molecular platforms for developing optically addressable molecular qubits, and TTM-based diradicals are representative systems that are studied most widely. However, the diradical species thereof typically suffer from low photoluminescence efficiency and short spin-polarization lifetimes, which greatly limit their optical readout sensitivity. Here, we demonstrate that a donor-acceptor (D-A) structural engineering strategy may simultaneously improve both aspects of properties. Upon decorating a prototypical <i>m</i>-phenylene-linked TTM diradical (DR1) with electron-donating carbazole moieties, the functionalized molecule (DR2) exhibits a significantly enhanced PLQY from 3.1% to 18.8% at room temperature in the polymer matrix. Moreover, though both possess a triplet ground state enabled by a ferromagnetic spin exchange, the magneto-optical behaviors of DR1 and DR2 differ evidently. High-field magnetoluminescence measured from 0 to 50 T at varied temperatures reveals that DR1 emission is governed by the thermal population variations between the triplet ground state and singlet excited state, whereas the emission response of DR2 manifests more sophisticated field dependence, suggesting a nearly pure triplet emission of a complex spin-dynamic mechanism. Time-resolved EPR spectroscopy further proves that the carbazole-derived diradical preserves the capacity of spin-selective photo-initialization to the T<sub>0</sub>|0〉 sublevel of the ground state, and more impressively a considerably extended spin-polarization lifetime of 4.22 µs is exhibited by DR2, in comparison to 1.84 µs of DR1. These findings illustrate that electronic modulation through chemical modifications may serve as a powerful tool for tailoring the spin-optical interfaces of organic molecules to suit quantum information applications.</p>","PeriodicalId":9909,"journal":{"name":"Chemical Science","volume":" ","pages":""},"PeriodicalIF":8.1,"publicationDate":"2026-10-02","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC13664703/pdf/","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"149191647","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":1,"RegionCategory":"化学","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"OA","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}
Seungyeon Hyun, Doui Kim, Dongjin Choi, Eunkyeong Choi, Jongcheol Seo, Dongwhan Lee
{"title":"Mechanical macrocyclic effects: stimuli-responsive dual emission by self-inclusion and mutual exclusion.","authors":"Seungyeon Hyun, Doui Kim, Dongjin Choi, Eunkyeong Choi, Jongcheol Seo, Dongwhan Lee","doi":"10.1039/d6sc06062e","DOIUrl":"https://doi.org/10.1039/d6sc06062e","url":null,"abstract":"<p><p>A macrocycle divides space into an inside and an outside. This physical boundary allows a guest to reside either within the cavity or outside. When two guests are tethered to one macrocycle, they compete for the same cavity and mutually exclude each other. We exploit this simple principle to design a macrocyclic molecular device with two identical fluorophores. By design, when one fluorophore pendant is sequestered by the nonpolar cavity (\"<i>in</i>\"), the other is automatically exposed to the polar external environment (\"<i>out</i>\"), producing two distinct emission bands. This positional asymmetry arises from self-inclusion, mutual exclusion, and rigid-body tilting, all working cooperatively. The resulting dual emission reports the contrasting environments experienced by the two identical fluorophores within the same molecule, with the relative populations of the <i>in</i>- and <i>out</i>-states controlled by conformational switching driven by solvent polarity, temperature, or host-guest interactions.</p>","PeriodicalId":9909,"journal":{"name":"Chemical Science","volume":" ","pages":""},"PeriodicalIF":8.1,"publicationDate":"2026-10-02","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC13656219/pdf/","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"149179692","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":1,"RegionCategory":"化学","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"OA","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}
Ran Zheng, Qiang Zhang, Lulu Wang, Mingwei Wan, Zhaoquan Yao, Tongliang Hu, Jian Xu, Xian-He Bu
{"title":"Topology and pore-surface engineering of a Zr-MOF for ethylene purification and propylene recovery from MTO products.","authors":"Ran Zheng, Qiang Zhang, Lulu Wang, Mingwei Wan, Zhaoquan Yao, Tongliang Hu, Jian Xu, Xian-He Bu","doi":"10.1039/d6sc05534f","DOIUrl":"10.1039/d6sc05534f","url":null,"abstract":"<p><p>Efficient separation of light hydrocarbons from methanol-to-olefins (MTO) product streams, typically consisting of ethylene (C<sub>2</sub>H<sub>4</sub>), propylene (C<sub>3</sub>H<sub>6</sub>), and ethane (C<sub>2</sub>H<sub>6</sub>), is pivotal for sustainable olefin production but remains challenged by the trade-off between selectivity and capacity. Herein, we report a highly robust zirconium-based metal-organic framework, NKU-400, constructed from 12-connected Zr<sub>6</sub> clusters and tetratopic carboxylate ligands, featuring a unique (4,4,12)-connected topology with aromatic-rich and N/O-functionalized pore surfaces. The tailored pore environment affords a pronounced thermodynamic preference for C<sub>3</sub>H<sub>6</sub> over C<sub>2</sub>H<sub>4</sub> through synergistic pore confinement and multiple C-H⋯π/O/N interactions, while a more modest discrimination between C<sub>2</sub>H<sub>6</sub> and C<sub>2</sub>H<sub>4</sub> develops at finite loading. Consequently, NKU-400 exhibits high adsorption capacities for C<sub>3</sub>H<sub>6</sub> (6.01 mmol g<sup>-1</sup>) and C<sub>2</sub>H<sub>6</sub> (4.29 mmol g<sup>-1</sup>), together with high C<sub>3</sub>H<sub>6</sub>/C<sub>2</sub>H<sub>4</sub> IAST selectivities of 9.83-10.67 at 298 K. Dynamic breakthrough experiments further demonstrate highly effective binary C<sub>3</sub>H<sub>6</sub>/C<sub>2</sub>H<sub>4</sub> separation, delivering polymer-grade C<sub>2</sub>H<sub>4</sub> (≥99.95%) with a productivity of 94.45 L(STP) kg<sup>-1</sup> and enabling the subsequent recovery of high-purity C<sub>3</sub>H<sub>6</sub> (≥99.5%) with a productivity of 77.62 L(STP) kg<sup>-1</sup> from an equimolar mixture. Furthermore, NKU-400 enables the one-step purification of polymer-grade C<sub>2</sub>H<sub>4</sub> from ternary C<sub>3</sub>H<sub>6</sub>/C<sub>2</sub>H<sub>6</sub>/C<sub>2</sub>H<sub>4</sub> mixtures, followed by the recovery of high-purity C<sub>3</sub>H<sub>6</sub> with a productivity of 59.72 L(STP) kg<sup>-1</sup> within a single adsorption-desorption cycle. Combined with its excellent chemical robustness, these results establish NKU-400 as a promising adsorbent for the purification of MTO-derived light hydrocarbons and highlight the effectiveness of integrating topology design with pore-surface engineering for challenging hydrocarbon separations.</p>","PeriodicalId":9909,"journal":{"name":"Chemical Science","volume":" ","pages":""},"PeriodicalIF":8.1,"publicationDate":"2026-10-01","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC13643523/pdf/","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"149134581","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":1,"RegionCategory":"化学","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"OA","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}
{"title":"Ionic covalent organic frameworks with precisely engineered pyridinic nitrogen sites for light-driven gold recovery.","authors":"Zhenzhen Feng, Feng Chen, Tiejun Chen, Linchu Xu, Likuan Teng, Baokang Lyu, Xuelong He, Xinghao Li, Linfei Qiu, Weiyi Zhang, Yaozu Liao","doi":"10.1039/d6sc03369e","DOIUrl":"https://doi.org/10.1039/d6sc03369e","url":null,"abstract":"<p><p>Gold is a strategically important and technologically indispensable metal underpinning applications in electronics, catalysis, medicine and energy technologies. However, its naturally accessible abundance is exceedingly limited, necessitating the exploration of alternative resource streams-particularly electronic waste. Meanwhile, the escalating generation of gold-containing electronic waste also underscores the urgent need for efficient and sustainable recycling technologies. Here, we report the synthesis of two ionic covalent organic frameworks (ICOFs) incorporating distinct bipyridinium units <i>via</i> a one-step quaternization strategy. These photoactive cationic sites can act as effective coulombic traps for [AuCl<sub>4</sub>]<sup>-</sup> and also promote sustained charge separation under illumination, thereby enabling <i>in situ</i> photoreduction of Au(iii). As a result, both of the synthesized ICOFs exhibit outstanding gold adsorption performance, with capacities exceeding 2800 mg g<sup>-1</sup>. Notably, ICOF-36BPy achieves an ultrahigh gold uptake capacity of 3854 mg g<sup>-1</sup>, representing a 10.91-fold enhancement over that of its neutral parent COF under dark conditions. Density functional theory calculations further reveal that strengthened coulombic interactions between nitrogen-containing cationic sites and [AuCl<sub>4</sub>]<sup>-</sup> markedly accelerate adsorption kinetics, whereas sustained photoinduced charge separation in ICOF-36BPy constitutes a critical mechanism enabling efficient Au(iii) reduction.</p>","PeriodicalId":9909,"journal":{"name":"Chemical Science","volume":" ","pages":""},"PeriodicalIF":8.1,"publicationDate":"2026-10-01","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC13657087/pdf/","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"149179674","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":1,"RegionCategory":"化学","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"OA","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}
Carlo Baldassari, Carolin N Veras Rodriguez, Tin V T Nguyen, Jerome Waser
{"title":"Modular synthesis of 3,3-diarylpropylamines <i>via</i> the photo- and copper-catalyzed 1,3-aminoarylation of cyclopropanes.","authors":"Carlo Baldassari, Carolin N Veras Rodriguez, Tin V T Nguyen, Jerome Waser","doi":"10.1039/d6sc06246f","DOIUrl":"10.1039/d6sc06246f","url":null,"abstract":"<p><p>3,3-Diarylpropylamines are privileged pharmacophores in drugs such as fendiline and tolterodine, but their synthesis has been limited by the use of stepwise, single-bond-forming routes. We report the first 1,3-aminoarylation of the C-C bond in aryl cyclopropanes, achieved through two mechanistically distinct, complementary catalytic transformations. The photoactivation of <i>N</i>-chloro-<i>N</i>-(phenylsulfonyl)benzenesulfonamide (NCBSI) enables regioselective 1,3-aminochlorination; the resulting chloroamine is further elaborated by Friedel-Crafts coupling with electron-rich arenes or telescoped reductive coupling with aryl iodides to afford 1,3-aminoarylation products. A copper-catalyzed process instead couples electron-poor aryl boronic acids, <i>N</i>-fluoro-<i>N</i>-(phenylsulfonyl)benzenesulfonamide (NFSI) and aryl cyclopropanes in a single step. Collectively, these approaches give access to aryl partners spanning the full electronic spectrum, enabling the modular and convergent synthesis of structurally diverse 3,3-diarylpropylamines from a common cyclopropane precursor.</p>","PeriodicalId":9909,"journal":{"name":"Chemical Science","volume":" ","pages":""},"PeriodicalIF":8.1,"publicationDate":"2026-10-01","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC13669858/pdf/","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"149214956","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":1,"RegionCategory":"化学","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"OA","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}
Yihui Wei, Trent R Graham, Carolyn I Pearce, Aurora E Clark
{"title":"Graph-theoretic microstate analysis reveals altered dynamics in common-cation mixed electrolytes.","authors":"Yihui Wei, Trent R Graham, Carolyn I Pearce, Aurora E Clark","doi":"10.1039/d6sc04361e","DOIUrl":"10.1039/d6sc04361e","url":null,"abstract":"<p><p>Mixed aqueous electrolytes are increasingly valuable in industrial applications, where they often behave very differently from their single-salt counterparts, yet the underlying molecular mechanisms remain elusive. Here, we present a comprehensive molecular dynamics simulation study of ion networks in NaNO<sub>2(aq)</sub>, NaNO<sub>3(aq)</sub>, and their mixtures. New graph-theoretic workflows combined with principal component analysis identify ion aggregate macro-states, based on number of cations in the cluster, and microstates, based on inter-ion connectivity patterns, enabling detailed investigation of state transitions in mixed <i>versus</i> single-salt electrolyte systems. We find that NO<sub>2</sub> <sup>-</sup> preferentially partitions into aggregates, which influences both growth/contraction pathways of macrostates and microstate interconversion. Relative to the single-salt solutions, the mixed electrolyte exhibits faster macrostate aggregate growth and contraction but slower interconversion between microstates. We attribute these behaviors to substantial changes in the aggregation free energy landscape, which may help explain reported solubility shifts in the NaNO<sub>2(aq)</sub>/NaNO<sub>3(aq)</sub> two-salt solution. More broadly, these data provide molecular-level evidence that anion competition in two-salt electrolytes directly shapes concentration-dependent ion aggregation, a finding relevant to properties that span conductivity in battery and electrochemical applications to solubility in industrial wastes. The graph-theoretic workflow introduced here for identifying microstates and their transitions is broadly extensible and represents a significant computational advance for studying electrolyte systems.</p>","PeriodicalId":9909,"journal":{"name":"Chemical Science","volume":" ","pages":""},"PeriodicalIF":8.1,"publicationDate":"2026-10-01","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC13669861/pdf/","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"149215029","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":1,"RegionCategory":"化学","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"OA","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}
Peng Qin, Modan Liu, Abhinav Chandresh, Yunzhe Jiang, Lars Heinke
{"title":"Boosting the mobility of ions in nanoporous confinement by applying a gate voltage.","authors":"Peng Qin, Modan Liu, Abhinav Chandresh, Yunzhe Jiang, Lars Heinke","doi":"10.1039/d6sc03773a","DOIUrl":"https://doi.org/10.1039/d6sc03773a","url":null,"abstract":"<p><p>The mobility of ions under confinement in nanoporous host materials is central to many electrochemical energy transformation and storage devices. By using ionic liquids (ILs) as electrolytes and metal-organic frameworks (MOFs) as well-defined, regular nanoporous hosts, the dynamic ion properties were explored in detail. Here, we demonstrate for the first time that applying a gate-voltage (perpendicular to the charge transfer direction) allows the ion mobilities to be considerably enhanced. The experiments, which are based on MOF films, show a conductivity increase of up to 35%. In addition, molecular dynamics simulations provide deeper insights, showing that the gate-voltage-field causes layers of increased and decreased ion concentrations, parallel to the charge transfer direction. In these layers, the ion mobilities is up to 2.5 times higher than that in the bulk phase or without an additional gate-voltage field. Thus, these layers of highly mobile ions could be referred to as gate-voltage-induced \"ion highways\", causing the experimentally observed higher conductance. Moreover, a general correlation between the ion mobilities and the local ion concentration was found. The study provides deeper insights into ion dynamics in nanoporous confinement and provides a method for enhanced ion mobilities.</p>","PeriodicalId":9909,"journal":{"name":"Chemical Science","volume":" ","pages":""},"PeriodicalIF":8.1,"publicationDate":"2026-10-01","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC13651806/pdf/","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"149164677","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":1,"RegionCategory":"化学","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"OA","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}
Chenghao Duan, Xujun Zheng, Jiaqi Zhu, Rosemary L Buhrman, Stephen L Craig, Ross A Widenhoefer
{"title":"Force-modulated and strain-dependent stereoselectivity of copper-catalyzed reductive coupling.","authors":"Chenghao Duan, Xujun Zheng, Jiaqi Zhu, Rosemary L Buhrman, Stephen L Craig, Ross A Widenhoefer","doi":"10.1039/d6sc01654e","DOIUrl":"https://doi.org/10.1039/d6sc01654e","url":null,"abstract":"<p><p>Force coupled to the dihedral angle of a macrocyclic biaryl bisphosphine ligand modulates the stereoselectivity of the copper-catalyzed reductive coupling of 2-vinyl pyridine with acetophenone to form 1-phenyl-2-(pyridin-2-yl)butan-2-ol (1) as a mixture of the (2<i>S</i>,3<i>S</i>)/(2<i>R</i>,3<i>R</i>) (1a) and (2<i>R</i>,3<i>S</i>)/(2<i>S</i>,3<i>R</i>) (1b) diastereomers. Across a ∼280 pN range of extension forces, the diastereomeric ratio (1a : 1b) decreases from 2.7 : 1 to 1.7 : 1 and the enantiomeric ratios of 1a and 1b decrease from 5.60 to 2.37 and 7.23 to 1.93, respectively. DFT calculations support a model for the observed force-dependent stereoselectivity of reductive coupling in which the competing transition states are differentially destabilized by the applied tensile force. The degree of destabilization corresponds to the magnitude of the nuclear motions along the coupled vector of applied force that occur on moving from the ground state to the transition state. The stereoselectivity of reductive coupling is likewise modulated in the bulk by compressing elastomeric polyacrylate gels containing crosslinked [(<i>R</i>)-Biphep]Cu active sites. The diastereomeric ratio (1a : 1b) decreases from 1.9 to 1.7 : 1 and the enantiomeric ratios of 1a and 1b decrease from 2.88 to 2.58 and 2.77 to 2.48, respectively, when the support is compressed by 50% in a single dimension. Stereoselectivity returns to basal levels when the polymer is relaxed. Control experiments employing polymers containing mechanically-decoupled [(<i>R</i>)-Biphep]Cu active sites support the mechanical origin of the strain dependent stereoselectivity of reductive coupling.</p>","PeriodicalId":9909,"journal":{"name":"Chemical Science","volume":" ","pages":""},"PeriodicalIF":8.1,"publicationDate":"2026-10-01","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC13650620/pdf/","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"149164100","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":1,"RegionCategory":"化学","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"OA","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}
José David Estrada Sotomayor, Thomas Dardé, Émilie Diomar, Xavier Schultze, Guillaume Fleury, Daniel Taton
{"title":"Solvent-programmable organocatalyzed group transfer copolymerization (O-GTcP) of muconate esters: from statistical control to copolymerization-induced self-assembly.","authors":"José David Estrada Sotomayor, Thomas Dardé, Émilie Diomar, Xavier Schultze, Guillaume Fleury, Daniel Taton","doi":"10.1039/d6sc05973b","DOIUrl":"10.1039/d6sc05973b","url":null,"abstract":"<p><p>Developing sustainable polymer platforms requires simultaneous control over micro- and macromolecular structures, material properties, and end-of-life fate. Herein, we report the one-pot organocatalyzed group transfer copolymerization (O-GTcP) of dioctyl and diethyl muconates (DOM and DEM), achieving statistical copolymuconates with tunable properties and composition-dependent self-assembly. In homogeneous media (THF and toluene), phosphazene-mediated O-GTcP proceeds very rapidly at room temperature (<15 min), yielding statistical copolymers with controlled composition and tunable glass-transition temperatures. These materials undergo efficient thermal depolymerization, regenerating the parent muconate monomers, which can be directly repolymerized without monomer purification to close the polymer-monomer-polymer cycle. Remarkably, conducting the same copolymerization in isododecane leads to a distinct assembly regime. While poly(DOM) remains soluble in this nonpolar medium, increasing DEM incorporation progressively reduces copolymer solubility and ultimately triggers <i>in situ</i> nanoparticle formation during copolymer chain growth. Stable dispersions are thus generated directly through one-pot copolymerization-induced self-assembly under organocatalytic conditions (O-GTcPISA), without block copolymer design or sequential polymerization steps. Together, these results establish O-GTcP as a solvent-programmable platform integrating rapid metal-free copolymerization, statistical sequence control, recyclable backbone chemistry, and nanoscale organization within a single synthetic framework.</p>","PeriodicalId":9909,"journal":{"name":"Chemical Science","volume":" ","pages":""},"PeriodicalIF":8.1,"publicationDate":"2026-10-01","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC13643524/pdf/","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"149134561","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":1,"RegionCategory":"化学","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"OA","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}