Synthesis of Dendrimer‐Like Molecules with Partial Carbon Chain via Iterative Single Unit Monomer Insertions

Abstract

AbstractCarbon‐chain dendritic polymers hold unique properties and promising applications. However, synthesizing carbon‐chain dendrimers, beyond conjugated ones, remains a challenge. Here, the use of the iterative single unit monomer insertion technique for synthesizing 2.5 generation partial‐carbon‐chain dendrimers (G2.5) is described, utilizing bismaleimide as the core, a maleimide–trithiocarbonate conjugate as the branching unit, and indene as the spacer unit, following a divergent growth strategy. The optimized conditions for synthesizing the maleimide–trithiocarbonate branching unit are a bismaleimide to trithiocarbonate ratio of 5:1 and a reaction time of 30 min. The structures are verified using 1H nuclear magnetic resonance, gel permeation chromatography, and matrix‐assisted laser desorption/ionization‐time of flight mass spectra. A four‐arm star polymer is then synthesized using the G2.5 as the core. This synthesis of a partial‐carbon‐chain dendrimer establishes a foundational step toward creating all‐carbon‐chain ones and may open new application avenues in material science.