Key Lab of Organic Optoelectronics and Molecular Engineering, Department of Chemistry, Tsinghua University, Beijing, 100084, China.
Chem Soc Rev. 2012 Sep 21;41(18):5922-32. doi: 10.1039/c2cs35084j. Epub 2012 Jun 6.
Supramolecular polymers are made of monomers that are held together by noncovalent interactions. This is the reason for the wide range of novel properties, such as reversibility and responses to stimuli, exhibited by supramolecular polymers. A range of supramolecular polymerization methods have been developed leading to a number of novel supramolecular materials. However, standard techniques for the characterization of supramolecular polymers have yet to be established. The dynamic nature of supramolecular polymers makes them difficult to be fully characterized using conventional polymer techniques. This tutorial review summarizes various methods for characterizing supramolecular polymers, including theoretical estimation, size exclusion chromatography, viscometry, light scattering, vapor pressure osmometry, mass spectrometry, NMR spectroscopy, scanning probe microscopy, electron microscopy, and atomic force microscopy-based single molecule force spectroscopy. Each of these methods has its own particular advantages and disadvantages. Most of the methods are used to characterize the supramolecular polymer chain itself. However, some of the methods can be used to study the self-assembled state formed by supramolecular polymers. The characterization of a supramolecular polymer cannot be realized with a single method; a convincing conclusion relies on the combination of several different techniques.
超分子聚合物由通过非共价相互作用结合在一起的单体组成。这就是超分子聚合物表现出广泛的新颖性质(如可逆性和对刺激的响应)的原因。已经开发了一系列超分子聚合方法,从而产生了许多新型超分子材料。然而,用于表征超分子聚合物的标准技术尚未建立。超分子聚合物的动态性质使得它们很难使用常规聚合物技术进行全面表征。本综述总结了各种用于表征超分子聚合物的方法,包括理论估算、尺寸排阻色谱法、粘度法、光散射法、蒸气压渗透法、质谱法、NMR 光谱法、扫描探针显微镜、电子显微镜和基于原子力显微镜的单分子力谱法。这些方法中的每一种都有其自身的优点和缺点。大多数方法用于表征超分子聚合物链本身。然而,其中一些方法可用于研究超分子聚合物形成的自组装态。超分子聚合物的表征不能仅用一种方法来实现;令人信服的结论依赖于几种不同技术的结合。