Polypyridine-Based Helical Amide Foldamer Channels: Rapid Transport of Water and Protons with High Ion Rejection

摘要

Synthetic strategies that enable rapid construction of covalent organic nanotubes with an angstrom-scale tubular pore remain scarcely reported. Reported here is a remarkably simple and mild one-pot polymerization protocol, employing POCl3 as the polymerization agent. This protocol efficiently generates polypyridine amide foldamer-based covalent organic nanotubes with a 2.8 nm length at a yield of 50 %. Trapping single-file water chains in the 2.8 angstrom tubular cavity, rich in hydrogen-bond donors and acceptors, these tubular polypyridine ensembles rapidly and selectively transport water at a rate of 1.6x10(9) H2O.S-1.channel(-1) and protons at a speed as fast as gramicidin A, with a high rejection of ions.