Synergy in the copolymerization of non-ionic and anionic biphenyl tetracarboxamides: mix and match

Multi-component supramolecular polymerization, which requires control over hydrophobic effects, hydrogen bonding, coordination interactions, and π–π stacking of the monomers, enables the preparation of functional materials at the molecular level. Here, we report the synthesis of two monomers of biphenyl-3,3’,5,5’-tetracarboxamide derivatives with tetraethylene glycol and tetraethylene glycol sulfate at the tails. By themselves, they are poor monomers for aqueous supramolecular homopolymerization, but the presence of tetrahydrofuran as cosolvent or sodium chloride as additive leads to the self-assembly of the monomers. In the copolymerization experiments, we show that the coexistence of these non-ionic and anionic biphenyl tetracarboxamide-based monomers leads to synergetic supramolecular copolymerization.