Highly ordered supramolecular structure built from poly(4-(4-vinylphenylpyridine)) and 1,1′-ferrocenedicarboxylic acid via hydrogen bonding

Abstract

A supramolecular aggregate with molecular-level ordering, is prepared by the hydrogen-bonding self-assembly of poly(4-(4-vinylphenylpyridine)) (P4VPPy) and 1,1′-ferrocenedicarboxylic acid (FDA) in dimethyl sulfoxide (DMSO) using a solvent vapor thermal annealing process. Co-dissolving P4VPPy and FDA in DMSO leads to hydrogen bonding between the pyridine and carboxylic acid. This is confirmed by Fourier transform-infrared spectroscopy and X-ray photoelectron spectroscopy. The crystalline morphology of the resulting thin films are investigated by high-voltage electron microscopy coupled with X-ray diffraction, which reveals that hydrogen bonding assisted self-assembly of P4VPPy and FDA results in precise arrangements of both the polymer chains and FDA molecules providing a highly ordered material with a face-centered cubic crystal structure. The X-ray spectra shows crystalline peaks with d spacing in the (100) direction and supports the high-voltage electron microscopy results. Furthermore, P4VPPy also interacts with 2,6-naphthalenedicarboxylic acid (NTDA), 1,4-benzenedicarboxylic acid (BZDA) and 1,2-ethanedicarboxylic acid (EDA) separately, and these structures are compared with the ordering behavior of P4VPPy⋯FDA.