Synthesis of compound C
1| Fit a 100-ml double-necked round-bottomed flask containing a Teflon-coated magnetic stir bar with a rubber septum and a Liebig condenser. Fit the condenser a rubber septum with inlet of dry N2 and an outlet towards a bubbler containing paraffin oil, in order to prevent the ingress of moisture and air.
2| Weigh out 6A-toluenesulfonyl-β-CD B 12.91 g (0.01 mol) into the flask.
3| Turn on the circulating water in the condenser.
4| Add 20 ml DMF into the flask and switch on the magnetic stirrer and heater.
5| Inject 1-vinylimidazole 3 ml (0.03 mol) into the flask though a plastic syringe.
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6| Allow the reaction to proceed at 90°C for 48 h under reflux. Cool down to room temperature.
7| Precipitate the product in acetone (200 ml). Collect the precipitate by filtration. Wash the raw product with acetone.
8| Dissolve the solid into water/methanol (200 ml/50 ml)
! CAUTION The solution could be heated towards 50°C to afford a clear solution.
9| Fill a column (I.D. 30 × 250 mm) with Amberlite IRA-900 ion-exchange resin and washed with MilliQ water till the effluent pH going neutral.
10| Transfer the solution from step 8 into the column and let it hold for 1 h. Subsequently, collect the effluent drop by drop. Flush the column with equal volume MilliQ water and collect the effluent.
11| Distill off water on rotary evaporator to yield C as a light yellow solid (9.7 g, 78% yield)
■ PAUSE POINT Compound C can be stored in oven at 80°C for several weeks.
Synthesis of compound D
12| Fit a 250-ml double-necked, round-bottomed flask containing a Teflon-coated magnetic stir bar with a rubber septum and a Liebig condenser. Fit the condenser a rubber septum with inlet of dry N2 and an outlet towards a bubbler containing paraffin oil, in order to prevent the ingress of moisture and air.
13| Weigh out compound C 2.15 g (1.72 mmol) into the flask.
14| Add 20 ml dried pyridine into the flask and switch on the magnetic stirrer and heater.
! CAUTION Pyridine is highly toxic solvent. All experiments dealing with pyridine should be operated in fumehood. Goggles, gloves and mask should be worn.
15| Inject phenyl isocyanate 12 ml (110.32 mmol) into the flask though a plastic syringe.
! CAUTION Phenyl isocyanate has acute toxicity. It may cause severe skin burns and eye damage. It may cause allergy or asthma symptoms or breathing difficulties if inhaled. Adding 12 ml phenyl isocyanate as a whole would cause large extent of side reaction to produce triphenyl isocyanurate as a by-product. It is strongly recommended to add phenyl isocyanate dropwise with pressure equalizing funnel. Goggles, gloves and mask should be worn before experimental operation in fumehood.
▲ CRITICAL STEP Phenyl isocyanate should be added with four equal portions. Add 12 ml as a whole would cause large extent of side reaction to produce triphenyl isocyanurate as a by-product. Add phenyl isocyanate drop by drop with pressure equalizing funnel would end up with its transformation in the funnel and the liquid colour changes to light yellow.
16| Allow the reaction to proceed at 85 °C for 20 h. Set up the vacuum distillation pipeline.
17| Distill off pyridine under reduced pressure at 85 °C.
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18| Dissolve the residue with chloroform 15 ml.
19| Add the solution into silica column. Flush the impurities with n-hexane/ethyl acetate (70:30 v:v).
▲ CRITICAL STEP The ratio of n-hexane/ethyl acetate was determined by TLC analyses. The flash column separation progress was also monitored by TLC analyses. Lowering the ratio would result in an increase of the amount of solvents used for eluting the impurities completely.
20| Flush the product out of the column with MeOH.
21| Remove the solvent on rotary evaporator to yield D as a dark yellow solid (6.2 g, 66% yield).
■ PAUSE POINT Compound D can be stored in oven at 80 °C for several weeks.
Synthesis of vinylized silica E
22| Dry spherical silica gel particles (5 μm, 5g) in vacuum (10 mm Hg) at 150 °C for 24 h. Cool down to room temperature.
23| Fit a 250-ml double-necked, round-bottomed flask containing a Teflon-coated magnetic stir bar with a rubber septum and a Liebig condenser. Fit the condenser a rubber septum with inlet of dry N2 and an outlet towards a bubbler containing paraffin oil, in order to prevent the ingress of moisture and air.
24| Add dry toluene 100 ml into the flask. Switch on the magnetic stirrer and heater.
25| Inject 3-methacryloxypropyltrimethoxysilane (2.3 ml) into the flask.
26| Add dried silica gel from step 22 into the flask.
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27| Allow the reaction to stand at 90 °C for 18 h. Product was collected by filtration through 0.45 μm pore size membrane and washed with MeOH in Soxhlet apparatus overnight.
28| Collect the product by filtration through 0.45 μm pore size membrane and washed with MeOH in Soxhlet extractor overnight.
29| Dry the product overnight in an oven at 60°C in vacco to afford the vinylized silica E.
■ PAUSE POINT Vinylized silica E can be stored at room temperature for several months.
Co-polymerization for preparation of IMPCSP
30| Dissolve compound D (0.7 g) in chloroform (30 ml). Filter the solution through 0.45 μm pore size membrane.
31| Transfer the filtrate and drop onto vinylized silica gel E (1.4 g) evenly with a glass syringe.
! CAUTION A glass syringe was preferred to avoid any introduction of siloxal impurities from plastic syringes. Chloroform could corrode the rubber piston of the plastic syringe.
32| Dry the colloid-like mixture in vacuum (10 mm Hg) at 25 °C.
33| Fit a 100-ml double-necked, round-bottomed flask containing a Teflon-coated magnetic stir bar with two rubber septums.
34| Add the solid from step 32 into the flask. Add AIBN (3 mg) into the flask.
▲ CRITICAL STEP The amount of AIBN should be controlled. A less amount of AIBN would lead to slow reaction rate but a great amount resulted in rapid radical reactions and short chain growth. In both conditions, successful immobilized CD amounts were low.
35| Inject anhydrous toluene (20 ml) and 2,3-dimethyl-1,3-butadiene (2.6 ml) into the flask.
▲ CRITICAL STEP 2,3-Dimethyl-1,3-butadiene should be added before heating started. It was initiated together with the vinyl groups in compound D and vinylized silica E. Therein, 2,3-dimethyl-1,3-butadiene could act as a interlink. A delayed addition led to a lower CD amount on IMPCSP, since the radicals formed on D and E could have been annihilated before 2,3-dimethyl-1,3-butadiene was added.
36| Freeze the mixture in liquid N2 in a Dewar dish and degas the reaction system in vacuum (10 mm Hg) for 0.5 h.
! CAUTION Liquid N2
37| Take the flask out of the Dewar dish and thaw at room temperature.
38| Repeat step 36 and 37 for three times.
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39| Fit the flask with a Liebig condenser. Fit the condenser a rubber septum with inlet of dry N2 and an outlet towards a bubbler containing paraffin oil, in order to prevent the ingress of moisture and air.
40| Switch on the magnetic stirrer and heater. Leave the reaction to proceed at 60 °C for 18 h.
41| Cool down the reaction mixture and collect the product by filtration through 0.45 μm pore size membrane.
42| Wrap the filter cake with filter paper. Extract the solid in a Soxhlet extractor overnight.
43| Stop heating and collect the silica from the Soxhlet extractor. Dry the product in an oven at 60 °C for 24 h.
44| Pack IMPCSP into an empty stainless steel column with MeOH at 8,000 psi for 30 min.
■ PAUSE POINT IMPCSP can be stored at room temperature for several months.