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ARTICLE
SCHEME 1 Synthesis of 1,6-diazacyclododecane-2,5-dione.
(DMAP), succinic anhydride, N-acetylcaprolactam, 2,2,2-tri-
fluoroethanol (TFE), and chloroform d were purchased from
Aldrich Chemical Company. 1,6-Hexamethylenediamine
(HDA) and chloroform were purchased from Fluka. CLA was
purchased from ACROS and recrystallized from acetone; the
crystals were dried at 70 ꢁC under reduced pressure over-
night before use.
in a three-necked round-bottomed flask under nitrogen. After
the reaction was complete, the precipitant was removed by
filtration. Solvent was removed from the filtrate under
reduced pressure at 50 ꢁC and the remaining solid was
washed with acetone several times. The final product was
obtained as white powder. It was recrystallized from acetoni-
trile. The melting point of the 12-membered cyclic diamide
ꢁ
was obtained as 290 C using DSC.
Instrumentation and Techniques
Routine solution 13C nuclear magnetic resonance spectrome-
try (NMR) was performed on Varian MercuryPLUS 200 and
500 MHz spectrometers. Transmission infrared measure-
ments were carried out on a Mattson Galaxy Series FTIR
5000 using KBr pellets and 256 transients. Differential scan-
ning calorimetry (DSC) experiments were performed on a TA
Instruments 2920. The temperature was ramped at a heating
Synthesis of HAD-bisimide
HDA (34 mmol) and succinic anhydride (72 mmol) were dis-
solved in 20 mL of deionized water. The mixture was
refluxed for 2 h and then vacuum was applied to remove
water while the temperature was increased to 150 ꢁC. The
reaction was carried out for another 2 h. After completion,
the crude product was allowed to cool down to room tem-
perature and washed with water several times. After filtra-
tion, the crude product was recrystallized from water twice,
which gave the final product as white crystals in 70% yield.
13C NMR (200 MHz, TFE:CDCl3): 179.1, 38.2, 27.5, 26.6, 25.7
ppm.
ꢁ
rate of 10 C/min under nitrogen.
Wide angle X-ray diffraction (WAXD) measurements were
obtained with a Rigaku Ultima III diffractometer operated at
40 kV and 44 mA. Powder samples were run with a scan
speed of 2ꢁ per minute from 2ꢁ to 45ꢁ.
Synthesis of HAD-bisamide Acid
The molecular weight of cyclic diamide and cyclic tetramide
(structures below) were determined by a ThermoFisher LXQ
Ion-Trap instrument running in positive mode. The samples
were prepared by placing ꢀ10 mg of cyclic diamide or cyclic
tetramide in an Eppendorf tube, then adding 1 mL of 1:1
THF:MeOH with NaCl. The sample was vortexed for 1 min to
ensure a homogenous solution. 100 mL of this sample was
then diluted to 1 mL with 900 mL of the 1:1 THF:MeOH NaCl
solution (the NaCl concentration in the THF:MeOH is approx-
imately 1 mM). The diluted sample was then infused into the
spectrometer at a rate of 10 mL/min until a stable spectrum
was observed. The spectrum was then collected and opti-
mized on the sodium adduct of cyclic diamide or cyclic tetra-
mide using the autotune function in the XCalibur software,
which controls the instrument. The final spectra are the
average of several such collected spectra.
HDA (34 mmol) and succinic anhydride (136 mmol) were
dissolved in 100 mL of deionized water. The mixture was
stirred at room temperature for 6 h. After the reaction was
complete, the precipitant was removed by filtration, and
washed with hot water several times. After washing with
acetone one more time, the final product was allowed to dry
in a vacuum oven overnight. The product was obtained as
white powder in 50% yield. 13C NMR (200 MHz, TFE:CDCl3):
176.8, 174.4, 39.8, 30.3, 29.5, 28.6, 26.1 ppm.
Synthesis of Copolymer Nylon (6-co-64) via the Anionic
Polymerization Method
CLA (2 g) and 10 w % cyclic diamide (0.2 g) were charged
to a test tube. Another test tube was charged with CLA (0.3
g) and dry sodium hydride (0.02 g). Nitrogen was bubbled
through both test tubes for 15 min before heating. Both test
ꢁ
tubes were placed in a previously heated oil bath at 140 C.
Synthesis of 1,6-Diazacyclododecane-2,5-dione
After melting, 0.3 mL of N-acetylcaprolactam was added to
the CLA/cyclic diamide mixture by a syringe and the mixture
was allowed to stir for another 10 min. The caprolactam/
sodium hydride mixture was then added to this mixture, and
the polymerization was carried out at 145 ꢁC until the mix-
ture solidified after 15 min. The product was allowed to cool
down to room temperature under nitrogen, and was then
powdered and washed with refluxing ethanol overnight to
remove unreacted monomers. After washing with ethanol
one more time, the final product was dried in a vacuum
The procedures for synthesis of the cyclic monomers are
given for sample 4. All other samples were synthesized using
the same procedure except the ratio of reactants or the
amounts of solvent were varied. HDA (16.9 mmol), DPEA
(33.9 mmol), and 4-dimethylaminopyridine (DMAP) (1.6
mmol) were dissolved in 50 mL chloroform and charged to a
syringe. A second syringe was charged with succinyl chloride
(16.9 mmol) in 50 mL chloroform. These two syringes were
placed in a syringe pump and their contents added very
slowly (addition rate 0.5 mL/min) to 500 mL of chloroform
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oven for 12 h at 100 C (yield ꢀ34%).
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JOURNAL OF POLYMER SCIENCE, PART A: POLYMER CHEMISTRY 2014, 52, 96–103
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