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Abstract
Mechanically interlocked polymers (MIPs) are polymeric materials that are made of individual monomeric components that are constrained in space using a mechanical bond as
opposed to standard covalent methods. These materials have received increasing attention due to
their wide range of applications and increased synthetic accessibility. Despite this, doubly threaded
polyrotaxane materials, which are comprised of doubly threaded ring components connected by
dumbbell components, have seen minimal synthetic success. These materials offer potential
tunability parameters, synthetic control, and component interactions that are not possible with
conventional singly threaded materials.
Recently in 2017, a poly(n)catenane derived entirely of interlocking rings was reported for
the first time based on a doubly threaded metallosupramolecular polymer (MSP) template. It was
then hypothesized that this MSP template could be used to access other classes of mechanically
interlocking polymers besides the poly(n)catenane such as the doubly threaded poly[3]rotaxane.
This dissertation is the initial synthetic work towards achieving this goal.
To do this, the representative monomeric interlocked component, a doubly threaded
[3]rotaxane, had to first be well understood. Due to the doubly threaded nature, this study required
larger rings than had been traditionally used in a rotaxane structure, and as such the stability of the
complex became paramount. Three different sets of [3]rotaxanes that varied in stopper size,
stopper arm length, and ring size were synthesized, characterized, and analyzed for their kinetic
stability to dethreading. Of the parameters tested, ring size was the most influential on stability,
and a fully stable [3]rotaxane could be realized with a 42-atom ring or smaller. The corresponding
poly[3]rotaxanes were then synthesized and confirmed to have similar stability behavior. Based
on this work, an entire range of doubly threaded interlocked polymers are now possible.