Reversible thermochromism in self-layered hydrogen-bondedpolydiacetylene assembly

We structurally designed and synthesized a novel class of self-layered supramolecular polymers containing DA derivatives that can be obtained as film-forming materials and processed into a various forms. We found that double H-bonds between the acid hard cores together with a remarkable molecular DA recognition allow for retaining more favorable packing of the reactive groups in spin-coated films or even in dispersed solutions with a high degree of local ordering, suitable for topochemical polymerization. The sample molecularly designed here could be topochemically polymerized by UV irradiation through 1,4 addition of the conjugated triple bonds between adjacent stacking molecules. A reversible thermochromism in the absorption characteristics of spin-coated terephthalic acid/diacetylene polymers was also observed.