Synthesis and function of novel poly(crown ether)s

Novel types of vinyl polymers with a macrocyclic side chain were synthesized by the anionic polymerization of alpha-(alkoxymethyl) acrylate derivatives having 13similar to17 membered ring structure. The counter-cation in the polymerization system strongly affected the polymer yield and stereoregularity. The polymers bearing a crown ether side chain showed selective alkali-ion extraction abilities, which were significantly affected by the tacticity, as well as the ring structure, and very different from the other typical polymers having a crown ether side chain. The cobalt ion transport abilities were also demonstrated using vesicles prepared with dihexadecyl phosphate, suggesting that the polymers may have a porous or nanotube structure suitable as synthetic ion channels.