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Updated: Feb 21, 2026

Controlling the Size, Shape and Stability of Supramolecular Polymers in Water
Published on: August 2, 2012
Shackling Effect Induced Property Differences in Metallo-Supramolecular Polymers
Zhikai Li1, Jiali Gu1, Shengli Qi2
1Jiangsu Key Laboratory of Advanced Functional Polymer Design and Application, State and Local Joint Engineering Laboratory for Novel Functional Polymeric Materials, College of Chemistry, Chemical Engineering and Materials Science, Soochow University , Suzhou 215123, China.
Abstract:
We demonstrate here the synthesis of a novel class of metallo-supramolecular polymers with shackled structure, via the coordination of cyclic di(bis-terpyridine-triphenyl ether ester) ligands with ruthenium(II) ions. The constraint from the ring topology via the shackling of ligands provides novel properties to these metallo-supramolecular polymers, including the formation of dendritic crystals, red-shift of absorption bands in the UV-vis spectra from interchain charge-transfer transitions, and a typical flash-type memory behavior.
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