Dialdehyde polysaccharides as templates for green synthesis of polypyrrole-based materials without oxidative polymerization

Abstract

Polypyrrole (PPy) is one of the most promising conductive polymers, with potential applications in energy storage, flexible electronics, and biomedicine. Broader use of PPy-based materials is, however, limited by harmful reactants used in their preparation and by the absence of strong interactions between relatively chemically inert PPy and the used matrices. Here, an innovative and green method is introduced based on a spontaneous condensation reaction between dialdehyde polysaccharides (DAPs) and pyrrole. The unique structure of DAPs spontaneously facilitates the chaining of pyrrole cycles into PPy copolymers without any added oxidizing agent or catalysts. This presents a new approach for preparing PPy-based materials with low cytotoxicity and strong antioxidative, anti-inflammatory, and immunomodulatory effects, ideal for biomedical applications. Moreover, this method can be combined with traditional oxidative polymerization to prepare covalently linked PPy composites with greatly improved resistance toward wear and loss of conductivity.