Tuning reversible supramolecular polymer properties through co-monomer addition

Laurent Bouteiller (1) , Benjamin Isare (1) , Guylaine Ducouret (2) , François Lequeux (2)

1 UPMC - Université Pierre et Marie Curie - Paris 6
2 ESPCI Paris - Ecole Superieure de Physique et de Chimie Industrielles de la Ville de Paris

Unlike most low molar mass organogelators, which form strong gels due to the entanglement of strong molecular aggregates such as crystalline fibres, a few reversible supramolecular polymers form viscoelastic solutions due to the formation of both rigid and dynamic filaments. By using three different bis-ureas which self-assemble according to the same hydrogen bonding pattern and form such rigid reversible supramolecular polymers, we have shown that it is possible to finely tune the properties of the resulting solutions. The critical temperature below which viscoelastic solutions are obtained, and the viscosity of the dilute solutions can be adjusted by changing the co-monomer content. This clearly facilitates gel formulation, which is an important step as far as applications are concerned.

Mots clés: Physical Sciences

Laurent Bouteiller, Benjamin Isare, Guylaine Ducouret, François Lequeux. Tuning reversible supramolecular polymer properties through co-monomer addition. Supramolecular Chemistry, 2009, 21 (05), pp.416-421. ⟨10.1080/10610270802105106⟩. ⟨hal-00513531⟩