The synthesis of a polydiacetylene to create a novel sensory material

Sensory materials that respond to chemical and mechanical stimuli are under development in many laboratories. There are many significant uses of polydiacetylene compounds as sensory material. They have been applied to drug delivery, drug design, biomolecule development, cosmetics, and national security. In this study, experiments were carried out toward the development of a novel sensory material based on the established synthetic research on polydiacetylene compounds. Synthetic routes toward sensory materials with different head groups, different carbon chains lengths, and the incorporation of molecular imprints were explored.; Diacetylene moieties, which can be used for polymer vesicle formation, were prepared by two main routes. In one route, 1-iodo-1-octyne and 1-iodo-1-dodecyne were prepared as starting materials for the synthesis of two diacetylene compounds (Diacetylene I and Diacetylene II). In the other route, a mesityl alkyne was used to prepare 5-iodo-1-pentyne, which was then used to prepare a triethylamino alkyne. This in turn was used to synthesize a diacetylene (Diacetylene III). Although each diacetylene product was formed, purification by column chromatography was found to be difficult. Experiments in vesicle formation, with and without molecular imprints, were also carried out using commercially available diacetylenes .