Influence of topology on the gelation behavior of coordination polymers prepared via ROMP of macrocyclic olefins

This work reports on the consequences of concatenation of two twin macrocycles on the gelation behavior of coordination polymers obtained via ring-opening metathesis polymerization (ROMP) initiated by 2nd generation Grubbs' catalyst. The influence of concatenation is evaluated by comparison with the behavior of a non-interlocked model complex under the same reaction conditions. The suitability of the choice of the non-interlocked model complex is discussed in terms of molecular structure and effective molarity (EM). It is found that concatenation has a primary role in the gelation process, resulting in lower critical gelation concentrations for the endotopic, interlocked complex compared with the exotopic, non-interlocked one.