Facile Polymerization of Water and Triple-Bond Based Monomers toward Functional Polyamides

Water is an abundant, natural, and sustainable resource. However, it has not been used as a monomer for the construction of polymers. In this paper, we take this challenge and develop a new polymerization of water and triple-bond based monomers of isocyanides and bromoalkynes, and polyamides with high molecular weights (up to 41 700) and stereoregularities (the fraction of Z-isomer generally higher than 80%) are obtained in excellent yields (up to 98.1%) under mild reaction conditions. The polymers possess good solubility and exhibit high thermal stability and refractive index. The tetraphenylethene-containing polymers show the unique aggregation-enhanced emission (AEE) characteristics. Moreover, thanks to their containing bromoacrylamide groups in the main chains, these polyamides could be easily postmodified through different reactions, providing a convenient platform for polymer functionalization. Thus, this work not only established a stereoselective polymerization of water and triple-bond based monomers but also provided a powerful strategy for the preparation of functional polyamides under mild reaction conditions.