Synthesis, characterization and self-assembly behavior of metallopolymers using metal complexes with special ligand design

金属聚合物代表了一类特殊的超分子聚合物，它由两种不同的构建块组成。金属配合物和（合成）聚合物结合成一种具有两者特性的材料。这个概念应该在当前的项目中进一步探索。因此，新型金属聚合物将被合成，具有优越的自组装行为，并基于这种已定义的纳米结构形成，具有新的非凡性能。为此，基于三吡啶作为配体的金属配合物具有形成特定分子组装的倾向，将与选定的聚合物骨架结合，以触发所得到的金属聚合物的优越组装工艺，潜在地提供这些材料的新的或先进的性能和应用，例如，自我修复或形状记忆行为。为了获得超结构以及结构-性能关系，金属配合物的自组装过程应与具有自组装纳米结构的聚合物（如结晶聚合物、相分离嵌段共聚物）相结合。一个中心目标将是阐明和控制这两种相互作用的相互作用，以及这对整体组装行为是有利还是不利。该项目的一个主要挑战将是在溶液和固体状态下对所获得的材料进行表征。为此目的，将应用一系列不同的最先进的技术，以便将获得的金属聚合物结构可视化，并了解金属配合物对聚合物行为的影响，反之亦然。后者对于金属聚合物的潜在应用尤其有趣。因此，这些新型材料的刺激响应行为也将在当前项目中进行研究。

Metallopolymers represent a special class of supramolecular polymers, which consists of two different building blocks. Metal complexes and (synthetic) polymers are combined into one material featuring properties of both. This concept should be further explored within the current project. Thus, new kinds of metallopolymers will be synthesized featuring a superior self-assembly behavior and, based on this defined nanostructure formation, novel extraordinary properties. For this purpose, metal complexes based on terpyridine as ligand with a tendency to form defined molecular assemblies will be combined with selected polymeric backbones in order to trigger superior assembly processes of the resulting metallopolymers, potentially providing new or advanced properties and applications of such materials, e.g., self-healing or shape-memory behavior. To obtain superstructures as well as structure-property relationships, the self-assembly process of the metal complexes should be combined with polymers also featuring self-assembling nanostructures (e.g., crystalline polymers, phase-separation block copolymers). A central target will be the elucidation and control of the interplay of both interactions and whether this is beneficial or disadvantageous to the overall assembly behavior. A main challenge of the project will be the characterization of the obtained materials in solution as well as in the solid state. For this purpose, a range of different state-of-the-art techniques will be applied in order to visualize the obtained structures of the metallopolymers as well as to understand the influence of the metal complex(es) on the polymer behavior and vice versa. The latter one is in particular interesting for potential applications of the metallopolymers. Thus, the stimuli-responsive behavior of these new kind of materials will also be studied in the current project.