Isophthalic Acid-Pyridine H-Bonding: Simplicity in the Design of Mechanically Robust Phase-Segregated Supramolecular Polymers.

We report a new series of supramolecular polymeric networks based on the isophthalic acid-pyridine (IPA-Py) H-bonding motif. The IPA units were attached as end-groups to telechelic poly(ethylene--butylene) to create a tetrafunctional macromonomer, which was cross-linked by the addition of various bispyridines. Some of the supramolecular polymer networks thus made display surprisingly good mechanical characteristics. We show that their structure and properties are strongly influenced by the nature of the bispyridine motif and by the fact that some of the IPA-Py motifs aggregate into particularly well-defined hard phases.