One-Pot Synthesis of Polyrotaxanes via Acyclic Diene Metathesis Polymerization of Supramolecular Monomers

A one-pot synthesis of polyrotaxanes has been developed. The method employs a supramolecular monomer comprising a polymerizable ammonium salt and crown ether, in combination with dynamic ADMet polymerization. Ultimately, highly efficient complexation, polymerization, and end-capping were accomplished in a single operation to yield polyrotaxanes with Mw up to 19.3 kDa and >80% of the repeat units being complexed.