Water-Soluble Supramolecular Polymers Driven by Naphthalene- Naphthalene Interaction

Supramolecular polymers play a pivotal role in scientific and technological fields because of their inherent recyclability and their self-healing and stimuli-responsive properties. A water-soluble C-shaped receptors based on glycoluril and naphthalene building blocks is reported. The complexation formed in water was confirmed by 1 H NMR spectroscopy and NOESY technique. 1 H NMR spectroscopy, fluorescence spectroscopy and DLS measurements provide strong evidence that compound 2 undergoes self-recognition that naphthalene moiety can bind into the bisnaphthalene cleft and head-to-tail host–guest complexation to form a new supramolecular polymers in water. SEM and AFM visualized that the complexation formed the cyclic structure. This kind of highly designable monomer structure has great possibility to construct novel supramolecular polymer materials. Graphic abstract