The formation of imine bond is reversible. This feature has been taken advantage of by chemists for accomplishing high yielding self-assembly. On the other hand, it also jeopardizes the intrinsic stability of these self-assembled products. However, some recent discoveries demonstrate that some of these imine bond containing molecules could be rather stable or kinetically inert. A deep investigation indicated that such enhanced stability results from, at least partially, multivalence. Such results also inspire chemists to use imine condensation for self-assembly in water, a solvent that is considered not compatible with imine bond for a long time.
Keywords: imine; multivalence; self-assembly; solvent effect; stability.
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