Weak interactions dominating the supramolecular self-assembly in a salt: a designed single-crystal-to-single-crystal...

Single-crystal-to-single-crystal (SCSC) topochemical polymerizations of diacetylenes can yield nearly defect-free conjugated polymer crystals unattainable by other methods. Aryl-substituted diacetylenes with their potentially greater conjugation have been targeted for years, but until now no one has reported a SCSC polymerization of any aryl-substituted diacetylene. This is presumably due to the rigidity of such diaryl-substituted monomers as well as the lack of control over the supramolecular structure. To address this problem, the polymerization of a terminal phenyldiacetylene was targeted. It was assumed that a terminal diacetylene should demonstrate greater flexibility in the solid state. To establish the necessary (approximately 4.9 A) repeat distance, commensurate with the repeat distance in the polymer, a host-guest system was designed. The chosen diacetylene guest, the amine DABzNH(2), was to be crystallized with the oxalamide dicarboxylic acid host, H(2)og. The plan required a segregation of the hydrogen bonds, amide-amide hydrogen bonds to establish the 4.9 A spacing, and the carboxylate to ammonium ion hydrogen bonds to organize the guest. Prior to carrying out the diacetylene synthesis a series of model salts were studied. Consistent with the hydrophobic effect it was found that amines with large "greasy" substituents assembled according to the design. Once the model studies established that weak interactions could dominate the supramolecular structure of a salt, the actual design was put to the test. The targeted guest, DABzNH(2), was synthesized and crystals of the host-guest salt (DABzNH(3))(2)og were prepared. The resulting crystal structure was in complete accordance with the design. A SCSC polymerization was achieved by a slow annealing treatment lasting about three months. The crystal structure of the resulting polymer not only confirmed the first example of a poly(aryldiacetylene) single crystal, it also revealed an unexpected reaction pathway that shows a major movement involving the rigid aromatic substituent.