Self-Healing Supramolecular Materials Constructed by Copolymerization via Molecular Recognition of Cavitand-Based Coordination Capsules.

The repeating guest units of poly-(R)-2 were selectively encapsulated by the self-assembled capsule poly-1 possessing eight polymer side chains to form the supramolecular graft polymer (poly-1)n ⋅poly-(R)-2. The encapsulation of the guest units was confirmed by 1 H NMR spectroscopy and the DOSY technique. The hydrodynamic radius of the graft polymer structure was greatly increased upon the complexation of poly-1. The supramolecular graft polymer (poly-1)n ⋅poly-(R)-2 was stably formed in the 1:1 host-guest ratio, which increased the glass transition temperature by more than 10 °C compared to that of poly-1. AFM visualized that (poly-1)n ⋅poly-(R)-2 formed the networked structure on mica. The (poly-1)n ⋅poly-(R)-2 gelled in 1,1,2,2-tetrachloroethane, which led to fabrication of distinct viscoelastic materials that demonstrated self-healing behavior in a tensile test.