Preparation and characterization of water-soluble polysilanes bearing chiral pendant ammonium moieties

The preparation and characterization of new amphiphilic polysilanes contain ing chiral pendant ammonium groups are described. Polyalkylphenylsilanes (a lkyl; C-1-C-8) (I) were prepared, and the Friedel-Crafts reaction of I was carried out to give p-chloromethylated polysilanes (II). II were treated wi th optically active amines such as N, N-dimethyl-alpha-methylbenzylamine (1 ), N, N-dimethylphenylalaninol (2), N, N-dimethyl-O-acethylphenylalaninol ( 3), N, N-dimethyl-iso-leucinol (4), N, N-dimethylleucinol (5) and N, N-dime thyl-1-phenylethanol (6) to give the corresponding amphiphilic polysilanes bearing chiral pendant ammonium moieties. All polymers prepared were solubl e in water, ethanol and acetonitrile. The circular dichromic spectra (CD) o f the polymers in ethanol showed that the polymer had a screw-sense main ch ain.