Polymer Chemistry Blog

The latest issue of Polymer Chemistry is now online. You can read the full issue here:




The outside front cover features a Communication on Modification of pyridine-based conjugated polymer films via Lewis acid: halochromism, characterization and macroscopic gradation patterning by Shotaro Hayashi, Atushi Asano and Toshio Koizumi.





Issue 12 contains the following Review and Minireview articles:

• Main-chain photochromic conducting polymers 
• Conjugated polymer nanostructures for organic solar cell applications  
• Some new design strategies for second-order nonlinear optical polymers and dendrimers
• Recent advances in block copolymer-assisted synthesis of supramolecular inorganic/organic hybrid colloids 
• Initiators for the stereoselective ring-opening polymerization of meso-lactide    

To keep up-to-date with all the latest research, sign up for the journal’s e-alerts or RSS feeds or follow Polymer Chemistry on Twitter or Facebook

Dendrimers capable of detecting TNT have been developed and tested by scientists in Australia. 

TNT and other nitroaromatic explosives are used in landmines. Current detectors for TNT are bulky and unsuitable for use in the field. Now Paul Burn, Paul Meredith and colleagues the University of Queensland have developed dendrimers that can sense nitroaromatic explosives. Burn and the team tested the performance of three generations of fluorescent carbazole dendrimers, in solution and in thin films, to identify differences in the binding between different explosives. This technology could help create portable sensors for detecting nitroaromatic explosives.

Read the full article here (free registration required): G Tang, S S Y Chen, P E Shaw, K Hegedus, X Wang, P L Burn and P Meredith, Polym. Chem., 2011, DOI: 10.1039/c1py00222h

To keep up-to-date with all the latest research, sign up for the journal’s e-alerts or RSS feeds or follow Polymer Chemistry on Twitter or Facebook.

Here are the most-read Polymer Chemistry articles for April 2011:

Construction of mixed micelle with cross-linked core and dual responsive shells
Cong Chang, Hua Wei, Qian Li, Bin Yang, Ni Chen, Jin-Ping Zhou, Xian-Zheng Zhang and Ren-Xi Zhuo, Polym. Chem., 2011, 2, 923-930

Synthesis of thermoresponsive oxazolone end-functional polymers for reactions with amines using thiol-Michael addition “click” chemistry
The Hien Ho, Martin Levere, Jean-Claude Soutif, Véronique Montembault, Sagrario Pascual and Laurent Fontaine, Polym. Chem., 2011, 2, 1258-1260

Overcoming the PEG-addiction: well-defined alternatives to PEG, from structure–property relationships to better defined therapeutics
Matthias Barz, Robert Luxenhofer, Rudolf Zentel and María J. Vicent, Polym. Chem., 2011, Advance Article, DOI: 10.1039/C0PY00406E

Photo-responsive, biocompatible polymeric micelles self-assembled from hyperbranched polyphosphate-based polymers         
Chaojian Chen, Gongyan Liu, Xiangsheng Liu, Shaopeng Pang, Congshan Zhu, Liping Lv and Jian Ji, Polym. Chem., 2011, 2, 1389-1397

Polymeric nanomaterials from combined click chemistry and controlled radical polymerization           
Rong Fu and Guo-Dong Fu, Polym. Chem., 2011, 2, 465-475

Optimizing the generation of narrow polydispersity ‘arm-first’ star polymers made using RAFT polymerization            
Julien Ferreira, Jay Syrett, Michael Whittaker, David Haddleton, Thomas P. Davis and Cyrille Boyer, Polym. Chem., 2011, Advance Article, DOI: 10.1039/C1PY00102G

Thiol-ene “click” reactions and recent applications in polymer and materials synthesis
Andrew B. Lowe, Polym. Chem., 2010, 1, 17-36

Surface modification of carbon nanotubes with dendrimers or hyperbranched polymers
Jiao-Tong Sun, Chun-Yan Hong and Cai-Yuan Pan, Polym. Chem., 2011, 2, 998-1007

Functionalization of inorganic nanoparticles with polymers for stealth biomedical applications
Koon Gee Neoh and En Tang Kang, Polym. Chem., 2011, 2, 747-759

New micellar morphologies from amphiphilic block copolymers: disks, toroids and bicontinuous micelles
Simon J. Holder and Nico A. J. M. Sommerdijk, Polym. Chem., 2011, 2, 1018-1028

To keep up-to-date with all the best Polymer Chemistry research articles, sign up for the journal’s e-alerts here.

I am delighted to announce that Julien Nicolas will be joining us as a web writer for the Polymer Chemistry blog.

Julien is a CNRS researcher in the group of Prof. Patrick Couvreur, University Paris-Sud (France), where his current research activities are focused on the controlled/living radical polymerization and on the synthesis of novel (bio)polymers and nanoparticles for drug delivery purposes. He was recently featured as Polymer Chemistry Author of the week in which he discusses his latest paper in the journal.

Make sure you don’t miss any of Julien’s posts by signing up to our RSS feeds!

Bert Klumperman talks to Polymer Chemistry about the inspiration behind his work.

Watch the full interview on YouTube.

Interested to know more? Why not read Bert Klumperman’s review on Mechanistic considerations on styrene–maleic anhydride copolymerization reactions.