What is Multilevel molecularly woven polymer networks?

Chemists can link molecules not only with ordinary bonds but by shape alone, the way keys sit on a keychain loop: interlocked molecules cannot be separated without breaking bonds. Researchers are trying to extend the craft of weaving to the molecular scale, building cloth-like patterns from polymer chains. A multilevel molecularly woven polymer network is a flat, two-dimensional network that combines several different weave patterns in one structure: flat chains form a two-over-two-under weave while spiral chains thread through it. The team used it to examine how weave structure shapes how the material deforms under force and its ability to take up and separate particular guest molecules, such as toluene. A Zhejiang University team reported it in Nature Materials.

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