Mechanical activation of polymers containing two adjacent mechanophores

Mechanophore activation is usually performed on chain-centred or multi-mechanophore polymers. Here we investigate the activation of a bis-mechanophore system where two identical Diels–Alder adduct mechanophores are joined together with a short linker. Although CoGEF calculations suggest that the presence of a mechanophore affects the mechanochemical coupling of an adjacent mechanophore, we found no difference in the scission rate between various bis-mechanophore systems and their respective mono-mechanophore reference when activated by ultrasound in solution.