Most polymers consist of long molecular chains made up of many units connected by covalent bonds — but supramolecular polymers are different. The strikingly dynamic properties of these materials arise from the reversible bonds that hold their chains together, and open up the prospect of many new applications.
This is a preview of subscription content, access via your institution
Relevant articles
Open Access articles citing this article.
-
Multi-chiral materials comprising metallosupramolecular and covalent helical polymers containing five axial motifs within a helix
Nature Communications Open Access 08 June 2023
-
Bioinspired crowding directs supramolecular polymerisation
Nature Communications Open Access 25 February 2023
-
Classifying soft self-assembled materials via unsupervised machine learning of defects
Communications Chemistry Open Access 14 July 2022
Access options
Subscribe to this journal
Receive 51 print issues and online access
$199.00 per year
only $3.90 per issue
Buy this article
- Purchase on SpringerLink
- Instant access to full article PDF
Prices may be subject to local taxes which are calculated during checkout
Author information
Authors and Affiliations
Ethics declarations
Competing interests
Supramolecular polymers based on quadruple-hydrogen-bonded units have been patented by four inventors, including E. W. Meijer. The patent is now owned by Suprapolix BV in Eindhoven, a start-up company that explores the rights of this patent and other patents based on these types of polymer. E. W. Meijer is one of the founders of the company, indirectly owning roughly 10% of the shares. If Suprapolix makes a profit, he will benefit from the profits.
Rights and permissions
About this article
Cite this article
de Greef, T., Meijer, E. Supramolecular polymers. Nature 453, 171–173 (2008). https://doi.org/10.1038/453171a
Published:
Issue date:
DOI: https://doi.org/10.1038/453171a
This article is cited by
-
Multi-chiral materials comprising metallosupramolecular and covalent helical polymers containing five axial motifs within a helix
Nature Communications (2023)
-
Bioinspired crowding directs supramolecular polymerisation
Nature Communications (2023)
-
Mechanical Strong, Highly Adhesive, Recyclable and Transparent Supramolecular Silicone Coatings with Easy Water/Oil Sliding
Chinese Journal of Polymer Science (2023)
-
Classifying soft self-assembled materials via unsupervised machine learning of defects
Communications Chemistry (2022)
-
σ–σ Stacked supramolecular junctions
Nature Chemistry (2022)
