Narrowly Distributed Conjugated Polymers Synthesized Through Acid-Catalyzed Aldol Polycondensations in Nanoreactors

Conjugated polymers are typically synthesized through transition metal-mediated coupling reactions, which are often costly and have significant environmental impacts. Aldol condensation represents a more cost-effective and sustainable synthetic technique for developing next-generation organic functional materials. However, controlling the molecular weight and distribution of the resulting polymers remains challenging due to the uncontrollable step-growth polymerization mechanism of aldol polycondensations. To this end, by selectively anchoring sulfonic acids inside the mesochannels of SBA-15, the aldol polycondensation is exclusively confined within the pores. Experimental results demonstrate that this nanoreactor, by providing a spatially confined reaction environment, aids in controlling the progression of the polymerization and the growth of polymer chains, thereby achieving good control over polymer molecular weight and distribution, giving linear conjugated polymers and soluble conjugated polymeric nanoparticles with polymer dispersity down to 1.31.