Porous Dipeptide Crystals as Polymerization Nanoreactors

Abstract

Channeling a good polymer: Dipeptide crystals have been used for solid-state polymerization reactions. The porosity of the crystals enables monomer absorption, followed by γ-irradiation to produce polymers with high molecular weights. The crystal channels induce stereoselective reactions to yield 1,4-trans polydienes and isotactic poly(acrylonitrile) with retention of fibrillar morphology (see scheme).