Intramolecular Cross-linking of Polymers Using Difunctional Acetylenes via Click Chemistry

An efficient approach was described for the intramolecular cross-linking of azide-functionalized poly(styrene-co-chloromethyl styrene) co-polymers (PS-N3) via click chemistry at room temperature. Reaction of PS-N3 with the appropriate diacetylene functional compounds such as 1,4-diethynylbenzene (DEB) and 1,10-dipropargyloxy decane (DPD) in ultra-dilute solutions led to unimolecular particle-like structures. The resulting polymers were characterized in detail by 1H-NMR, FT-IR, GPC and DSC measurements.