Structured polymers with stimuli-responsive chiroptical behavior

Efforts are underway to develop novel condensation polymers that adopt one-handed helical geometries and undergo well-defined structural perturbations in response to externally applied stimuli. These polymers would possess conformationally restricted backbones that, at a minimum, contain two essential components, namely, a helical directing group and a stimuli-responsive chromophore or stimulophore. The use of azobenzene modified constructs as stimuliphore into properly designed helical backbones has been shown to provide new materials in which helical geometries can be readily distorted by the action of various stimuli.