Supramolecular polymer network constructed by a functionalized polyimidazolium salt derived from metal-carbene template approach

In this study, we present a supramolecular templating approach for constructing polyimidazolium salt containing crown ether and cyclobutane moieties. This strategy involves the formation of metal-carbene templates, photochemical cycloaddition, and subsequent demetallation of metal ions. Driven by the host-guest chemistry between crown ether units and ammonium salts, we successfully fabricated a supramolecular polymer SPN1, which features imidazolium receptors and cyclobutane units. The obtained SPN1 demonstrates outstanding reversible stimulus-response, antibacterial behavior and conductivity.