Conventional metal-catalyzed organic radical reactions and living radical polymerizations (LRP) performed in nonpolar solvents, including atom-transfer radical polymerization (ATRP), proceed by an inner-sphere electron-transfer mechanism. One catalytic system frequently used in these polymerizations is based on Cu(I)X species and N-containing ligands. Here, it is reported that polar solvents such as H(2)O, alcohols, dipolar aprotic solvents, ethylene and propylene carbonate, and ionic liquids instantaneously disproportionate Cu(I)X into Cu(0) and Cu(II)X(2) species in the presence of a diversity of N-containing ligands. This disproportionation facilitates an ultrafast LRP in which the free radicals are generated by the nascent and extremely reactive Cu(0) atomic species, while their deactivation is mediated by the nascent Cu(II)X(2) species. Both steps proceed by a low activation energy outer-sphere single-electron-transfer (SET) mechanism. The resulting SET-LRP process is activated by a catalytic amount of the electron-donor Cu(0), Cu(2)Se, Cu(2)Te, Cu(2)S, or Cu(2)O species, not by Cu(I)X. This process provides, at room temperature and below, an ultrafast synthesis of ultrahigh molecular weight polymers from functional monomers containing electron-withdrawing groups such as acrylates, methacrylates, and vinyl chloride, initiated with alkyl halides, sulfonyl halides, and N-halides.

Self-assembled nanostructures obtained from natural and synthetic amphiphiles serve as mimics of biological membranes and enable the delivery of drugs, proteins, genes, and imaging agents. Yet the precise molecular arrangements demanded by these functions are difficult to achieve. Libraries of amphiphilic Janus dendrimers, prepared by facile coupling of tailored hydrophilic and hydrophobic branched segments, have been screened by cryogenic transmission electron microscopy, revealing a rich palette of morphologies in water, including vesicles, denoted dendrimersomes, cubosomes, disks, tubular vesicles, and helical ribbons. Dendrimersomes marry the stability and mechanical strength obtainable from polymersomes with the biological function of stabilized phospholipid liposomes, plus superior uniformity of size, ease of formation, and chemical functionalization. This modular synthesis strategy provides access to systematic tuning of molecular structure and of self-assembled architecture.

We report the synthesis of methyl esters of 3-(4-hydroxyphenyl)propionic, 3-(3,4-dihydroxyphenyl)propionic, 3-(3,5-dihydroxyphenyl)propionic, and 3-(3,4,5-trihydroxyphenyl)propionic acids and their use in a convergent iterative strategy to prepare up to four generations of three libraries, one of 3,4,5- and two of constitutional isomeric 3,4- and 3,5-substituted 3-phenylpropyl dendrons. Each library contains 3-[3,4,5-tris(dodecyl-1-oxy)phenyl]propyl-, 3-[3,4-bis(dodecyl-1-oxy)phenyl]propyl-, 3-{3,4-bis[3-(4-dodecyl-1-oxyphenyl)propyl-1-oxy]phenyl}propyl-, and 3-{3,4,5-tris[3-(4-dodecyl-1-oxyphenyl)propyl-1-oxy]phenyl}propyl ether first-generation dendrons on their periphery and -CO2CH3, -COOH, and -CH2OH groups at their apex. Regardless of their generation number and their periphery, internal, and apex structures, these dendrons self-assemble into supramolecular dendrimers that self-organize into all periodic and quasi-periodic assemblies encountered previously and in several unencountered with architecturally related benzyl ether-based supramolecular dendrimers. A variety of porous columnar lattices that were previously obtained only from dendritic dipeptides and hollow supramolecular spheres were also discovered from these building blocks. The more flexible and less compact 3-phenylpropyl ether repeat units are stable under acidic conditions, facilitate a simpler synthetic strategy, provide faster dynamics of self-assembly into higher-order supramolecular structures of larger dimensions, exhibit lower transition temperatures than the corresponding benzyl ether homologues, and demonstrate the generality of the self-assembly concept based on amphiphilic dendrons.

The self-assembly of the dendritic dipeptides (4-3,4-3,5)nG2-CH2-Boc-L-Tyr-L-Ala-OMe and their achiral dendritic alcohol (4-3,4-3,5)nG2-CH2OH precursors, both with n ‫؍‬ 1-16, where n represents the number of methylenic units in the alkyl groups of the dendron, are reported. All chiral dendritic dipeptides and achiral dendritic alcohols self-assemble into helical porous columns that are stable in both solution and solid state. The pore diameter (Dpore) of the columns self-assembled from dendritic dipeptides is Ϸ10 Å larger than that of structures assembled from dendritic alcohols. The increase of the Dpore at the transition from dendritic alcohol to dendritic dipeptide is accompanied by a decreased solid angle of the building block. This trend is in agreement with previous pore size-solid angle dependences observed with different protective groups of the dipeptide and primary structures of the dendron. However, within the series of dendritic alcohols and dendritic dipeptides with various n, the Dpore increases when the solid angle increases. The results of these investigations together with those of previous studies on the role of dipeptide stereochemistry and protective groups on this self-assembly process provide the molecular principles required to program the construction of supramolecular helical pores with diameter controlled at the Å level from a single dendritic dipeptide architecture. These principles are expected to be valid for libraries of dendritic dipeptides based on dendrons and dipeptides with various primary structures. chiral dendrons ͉ porous supramolecular columns ͉ protein mimics ͉ peptide stereochemistry N atural porous proteins function as viral helical coats (1), transmembrane channels (2, 3), antibiotics (4), and pathogens (5), and their remodeled structures are used in synthetic systems for reversible encapsulation (6) and stochastic sensing (7). With few exceptions (8-10) porous protein mimics do not assemble, as the natural porous proteins do, into periodically ordered structures that are stable in both solution and bulk (11)(12)(13)(14). This behavior limits their structural analysis by combinations of solution and solid-state complementary techniques. Recently our laboratory (15) reported the self-assembly of amphiphilic dendritic dipeptides into helical porous structures that are stable in both solution and bulk (15). Preliminary reports have demonstrated that the internal structure and the stability of the porous columns self-assembled from dendritic dipeptides are programmed by the structure and stereochemistry of the dipeptide (15, 16), the protective groups of the dipeptide (17), and the structure of the dendron (18) attached to the dipeptide. Here we are reporting a comparative study of the self-assembly and structural and retrostructural analysis of the supramolecular porous structures generated from libraries of (4-3,4-3,5)nG2-CH 2 -Boc-L-Tyr-L-Ala-OMe dendritic dipeptides and their achiral (4-3,4-3,5)nG2-CH 2 OH precursors with n ϭ 1-16. This series of experiments will prov...

The development of Cu(0)/TREN/CuBr2‐catalyzed SET‐LRP of VC initiated with CHBr3 in DMSO at 25 °C is reported. The use of CuBr2 additive allows for the first LRP of low molecular weight VC (target DP = 100), as well as lower Cu powder loading levels, improved Ieff and control in the synthesis of higher molecular VC, targeted degree of polymerization = 350, 700, 1,000, 1,400. 1H NMR and HSQC confirm the bifunctionality of CHBr3 as an initiator and suggest that deleterious side‐reactions such as the formation of allylic chlorides occur primarily at the onset of the reaction. © 2009 Wiley Periodicals, Inc. J Polym Sci Part A: Polym Chem 47: 4130–4140, 2009