Organoborane Polymers and Supramolecular Materials

With the support of the Macromolecular, Supramolecular and Nanochemistry (MSN) Program in the Division of Chemistry, Professor Frieder Jäkle of the Department of Chemistry at Rutgers University-Newark will pursue boron-containing polymers as building blocks for new supramolecular materials. The electron-deficient character of boron compounds allows them to reversibly interact with electron-rich compounds such as amines or phosphines through so-called dative bonding. The reversibility of this dative bonding is appealing for developing ‘smart’ materials because the bond formation can be controlled through changes in temperature, concentration, and other stimuli. The Jäkle group aims to exploit this behavior to generate recyclable polymeric materials, including light-emitting materials that could find use in display technologies, bioimaging, and as sensors. The project will contribute to the training of a diverse body of undergraduate and graduate students in a highly interdisciplinary field of research. Planned materials chemistry outreach programs will allow students from local minority-serving high schools to experience University research and learn about career opportunities in the science and technology fields, while summer internships will provide hands-on research experiences. Polymer analysis capabilities will support the training of undergraduate students in teaching laboratories and enable research at nearby universities.Under this award, the Jäkle group will explore the synthesis and properties of polymers that are decorated with borane Lewis acids and Lewis acid-base pairs as means to add functionality and enable new applications. In one direction, the research targets polymeric Lewis pairs with interesting photophysical, electronic, and stimuli-responsive characteristics by ‘click’-like attachment of Lewis basic pi-conjugated chromophores to polymeric Lewis acids. Chromophores that contain multiple Lewis base groups are expected to lead to supramolecular polymer networks (SPNs) that feature photo-active dynamic crosslinks. Polymers that combine sterically hindered borane Lewis acid and Lewis base groups, so-called ‘frustrated’ Lewis pairs, will be studied in the activation of small molecules. In addition, collaborative efforts with other research groups at Rutgers, The State University and Boston College will be leveraged with the goal of generating fundamentally new classes of boron-containing polymers and hybrid nanomaterials.This award reflects NSF's statutory mission and has been deemed worthy of support through evaluation using the Foundation's intellectual merit and broader impacts review criteria.