Supramolecular network polymers formed from polyamidine and carboxy-terminated telechelic poly(n-butyl acrylate) via amidinium-carboxylate salt bridges

We have prepared the amidinium-carboxylate salt bridge-based supramolecular network polymers from a carboxy-terminated telechelic poly(n-butyl acrylate) and a linear polyamidine having N,N′-di-substituted acetamidine group in the main chain. FTIR measurements indicated that the salt bridge was attributed to the three-dimensional network formation. Virtually, no fluidity was observed for the blend containing equimolar amounts of the carboxyl group and the amidine group, which showed a high G′ value of about 1 MPa at -5 °C. For comparison, the supramolecular network polymers crosslinked by ammonium-carboxylate salt were prepared using a linear polyethyleneimine instead of the polyamidine. The blend with equimolar amounts of the carboxyl group and the secondary amino group showed liquid-like fluidity with a G′ value of about 0.01 MPa at -5 °C, which was attributed to the fact that a certain amount of the carboxyl group remained as its free form, as evidenced by FTIR analysis.