Disulfide-Mediated Reversible Polymerization toward Intrinsically Dynamic Smart Materials

The development of a dynamic chemistry toolbox to endow materials dynamic behavior has been key to the rational design of future smart materials. The rise of supramolecular and dynamic covalent chemistry offers many approaches to the construction of dynamic polymers and materials that can adapt, respond, repair, and recycle. Within this toolbox, the building blocks based on 1,2-dithiolanes have become an important scaffold, featuring their reversible polymerization mediated by dynamic covalent disulfide bonds, which enables a unique class of dynamic materials at the intersection of supramolecular polymers and adaptable covalent networks. This Perspective aims to explore the dynamic chemistry of 1,2-dithiolanes as a versatile structural unit for the design of smart materials by summarizing the state of the art as well as providing an overview of the fundamental challenges involved in this research area and its potential future directions.