A highly soluble poly(1,3,4-oxadiazole) (POD) substituted with long alkyl chains was examined for electrochemical fluorescence switching. The high solubility of the polymers enabled a simple fabrication of an electrochemical cell, which showed reversible fluorescence switching between dark (n-doping) and bright (neutral) states with a maximum on/off ratio of 2.5 and a cyclability longer than 1000 cycles. Photochemical cleavage of the oxadiazole in POD allowed photo-patterning of the POD film upon exposure to UV source. The patterned POD films displayed patterned image reversibly under a step potential of +1.8/-1.8 V.

A single step synthetic protocol to access a small family of renewable diacetals was established. The resultant chiral diacetals are valuable building blocks in pharmaceuticals and materials science. To demonstrate their synthetic competence, isohexide-diacetals (2a-c) were subjected to acetal metathesis polymerization and the corresponding polymers (poly2a-c) were isolated as white solids with molecular weights in the range 3200-27 600 (g mol −1 ). The semi-crystalline polymers displayed glass transition temperatures between 38-65 °C and melting temperatures in the range 103-156 °C. The isohexide derived polyacetals are stable under practical washing and rinsing conditions but degrade in slightly acidic media.

Acetal metathesis copolymerization (AMCP) of renewable isohexide diacetals and aliphatic long-chain diacetals is reported and access to a small family of copolyacetals has been established. Crucial 1-2D NMR and MALDI-ToF-MS fi ndings unambiguously confi rm the existence of a copolymeric structure. In a stark contrast to the earlier reported isohexide-polyacetals, the current copolyacetals reveal very slow degradation. Hydrolytic degradation of copolyacetal pellets is extremely slow at pH 7, whereas only 30% degradation over a period of 15 d is observed in 9 M hydrochloric acid solution. GPC investigations reveal that with increasing chain-length the rate of degradation reduces, whereas copolyacetals with short-chain aliphatic segments display a faster degradation profi le. The reduced rate of degradation can be attributed to the hydrophobic nature of long-chain acetal segments. In situ NMR spectroscopy reveals the existence of formates, hemiacetals, and diols as degradation products. Thus, the rate of degradation can be tuned by the judicious choice of isohexide-diacetal and linear-diacetals in a copolyacetal.

The 4-[4 0 -(Hydrazinocarbonyl)phenoxy]-2-pentadecylbenzohydrazide was polycondensed with aromatic diacid chlorides viz., terephthalic acid chloride (TPC), isophthalic acid chloride (IPC), and a mixture of TPC : IPC (50 : 50 mol %) to obtain polyhydrazides which on subsequent cyclodehydration reaction in the presence of phosphoryl chloride yielded new poly(1,3,4-oxadiazole)s bearing flexibilizing ether linkages and pentadecyl side chains. Inherent viscosities of polyhydrazides and poly(1,3,4-oxadiazole)s were in the range 0.53-0.66 dL g À1 and 0.49-0.53 dL g À1, respectively, indicating formation of medium to reasonably high molecular weight polymers. The number average molecular weights (M n ) and polydispersities (M w /M n ) of poly(1,3,4-oxadiazole)s were in the range 14,660-21,370 and 2.2-2.5, respectively. Polyhydrazides and poly(1,3,4-oxadiazole)s were soluble in polar aprotic solvents such as N,N-dimethylacetamide, 1-methyl-2-pyrrolidinone, and N,N-dimethylformamide. Furthermore, poly(1,3,4-oxadiazole)s were also found to be soluble in solvents such as chloroform, dichloromethane, tetrahydrofuran, pyridine, and m-cresol. Transparent, flexible, and tough films of polyhydrazides and poly(1,3,4-oxadiazole)s could be cast from N,N-dimethylacetamide and chloroform solutions, respectively. Both polyhydrazides and poly(1,3,4-oxadiazole)s were amorphous in nature and formation of layered structure was observed due to packing of pentadecyl chains. A decrease in glass transition temperature was observed both in polyhydrazides (143-166 C) and poly(1,3,4-oxadiazole)s (90-102 C) which could be ascribed to ''internal plasticization'' effect of pentadecyl chains. The T 10 values, obtained from TG curves, for poly(1,3,4-oxadiazole)s were in the range of 433-449 C indicating their good thermal stability.

Starting from commonly available sugar derivatives, a single step protocol to access a small family of isohexide‐dioxalates (2a–c) has been established. The synthetic competence of 2a–c has been demonstrated by subjecting them to condensation polymerization. Quite surprisingly, the proton NMR of poly(isomannide‐co‐hexane)oxalate revealed a 1:2 ratio between isomannide‐dioxalate (2a) and 1,6‐hexanediol (3a) in the polymer backbone. This intriguing reactivity was found to be an outcome of a cross metathesis reaction between 2a and 3a. The cross metathesis products 3a”[2‐(2‐methoxyacetoxy)ethyl 2‐(2‐hydroxyethoxy)‐2‐(λ3‐oxydanylidene)acetate] and 2a‘(3R,6R)‐6‐hydroxyhexahydrofuro[3,2‐b]‐furan‐3‐yl methyl oxalate were isolated in a control experiment. Based on direct and indirect evidence, and control experiments, an alternative polymerization mechanism is proposed. Polymerization conditions were optimized to obtain polyoxalates P1(2a‐3a)‐P9(2c‐3c) with molecular weights in the range of 14,000–68,000 g/mol, and narrow polydispersities. The identity of the polyoxalates was unambiguously established using 1‐2D NMR spectroscopy, MALDI‐ToF‐MS, and GPC measurements. The practical implication of these polymers is demonstrated by preparing transparent, mechanically robust films. The environmental footprint of the selected polyoxalates was investigated by subjecting them to solution and solid‐state degradation. The polyoxalates were found to be amenable to degradation. © 2018 Wiley Periodicals, Inc. J. Polym. Sci., Part A: Polym. Chem. 2018, 56, 1584–1592