Recyclable Cu nanoparticle catalyzed azide-alkyne click polymerization

The Cu(I)-catalyzed alkyne-azide cycloaddition (CuAAC) has been developed into a powerful polymerization reaction for the synthesis of new polytriazoles with versatile properties. However, research on recyclable and reusable copper catalyst for click polymerization to meet the requirement of green chemistry was rarely reported. Copper nanoparticles were reported to be capable catalysts for CuAAC. Replacing conventional copper catalyst with copper nanoparticles may realize the recycle and reuse of the copper catalyst in click polymerization. In this paper, copper nanoparticles were prepared and used as an effective catalyst for click polymerization, and soluble polytriazoles with high molecular weights were obtained in excellent yields under optimized reaction conditions. Importantly, the copper nanoparticles can be recycled and reused for up to 11 times for the click polymerization. Moreover, introducing aggregation-induced emission (AIE)-active moiety of tetraphenylethylene into the monomers makes the resultant polymers retain the AIE feature. This work not only provides an efficient recyclable catalytic system for the azide-alkyne click polymerization, but also might inspire polymer chemists to use recyclable copper species to catalyze other polymerizations.