Preparation and application of abietic acid-derived optically active helical polymers and their chiral hydrogels

A novel chiral monomer N-propargyl abietamide, M1, was synthesized from abietic acid and catalytically polymerized with (nbd)Rh+B-(C6H5)4 (nbd=norbornadiene), providing polymer [poly(1)] with a molecular weight of 13,000-36,000 at a yield of 59-84%. Poly(1) did not form stable helices in tetrahydrofuran at room temperature whereas copolymerization of M1 and the achiral N-propargylamide monomer, M2, led to the formation of helical optically active copolymers as indicated by circular dichroism studies, UV-vis spectroscopy, and specific optical rotation measurements. Hydrogels were prepared based on an optically active helical copolymer, poly(M1(0.32)-co-M2(0.68)) that exhibited enantioselective recognition toward l-alanine. The novel chiral polymers derived from abietic acid are expected to find applications in such areas as chiral recognition, chiral resolution, and chiral catalysis.