Polymer synthesis in coordination nanospaces

Abstract

In nature, biopolymers are efficiently synthesized by multilevel arrangements of monomers within constrained molecular-level spaces. These biological systems produce regio- and stereoregular polymers with uniform molecular weights, and can also arrange the higher order structures of the resulting polymers. Inspired by the elegant operations of polymerization in biological systems, polymer synthesis in artificial confined geometries is a promising strategy for the control of polymer primary structures and the design of well-defined nanostructures. Recently, we have established a new methodology for controlling polymer synthesis using microporous coordination compounds. In this account, recent progress and future perspectives of polymerizations in these coordination nanospaces are reviewed. © 2011 The Chemical Society of Japan.