Polymer Chemistry Blog

In this study, Leibler and co-workers reported on the subtle influence of solvent on the organization of supramolecular polymers. They synthesized homotelechelic and heterotelechelic oligomers of poly(propylene oxide) (PPO) equipped with complementary hydrogen bonding functional ends, thymine (Thy) and diaminotriazine (DAT). In a solvent that dissociates Thy–DAT hydrogen bonds, such as DMSO, the viscosity was low for all functional telechelic oligomers. In non-dissociative solvents, the addition of functional oligomers increased the viscosity. For both the homotelechelic blends and the heterotelechelics, the viscosity in toluene was about two times higher than that in chloroform. Additionally, the Thy–DAT association constant was 22 times higher. Carbon relaxation times measured by NMR and viscosity variation for solutions of different concentrations suggest a distinct supramolecular organization in chloroform and toluene: linear and cyclic supramolecular chains in chloroform and small π-stacked objects with a PPO shell and a Thy, DAT core in toluene. One might expect that when the materials are obtained by solvent evaporation, the organization in the bulk is solvent dependent as this is often the case for ABC block copolymers.

Binding and supramolecular organization of homo- and heterotelechelic oligomers in solutions by Jessalyn Cortese, Corinne Soulié-Ziakovic and Ludwik Leibler Polym. Chem. 2014, 5, 116-125.

Julien Nicolas is a web-writer and advisory board member for Polymer Chemistry. He currently works at Univ. Paris-Sud (FR) as a CNRS researcher.

In this study, Liu and co-workers reported a new strategy for the synthesis of polyaniline (PANI) nanostructures on a flexible G–carbon nanotube (G-CNT) composite paper substrate, which can be directly used as flexible electrodes possessing both electric double layer (EDL) capacitance and pseudocapacitance. The ternary hybrid paper exhibited a reversible capacity of up to 432 F g^-1 at a discharge rate of 0.5 A g^-1, which was much larger than that of bare G–CNT composite paper (172.4 F g^-1); and its cyclic performance was dramatically enhanced, sustaining greater than 96% of its original capacitance after 600 charge–discharge cycles. Besides, the good electrical conductivity of the G–CNT composite paper provided improved conductive pathways for charge transfer at the electrodes thus resulting in superior capacitance during charge–discharge processes. Therefore, the method reported here provides a simple and efficient approach to fabricating G–CNT–PANI ternary hybrid papers with designed hierarchical nanostructures, and may be easily extended to the design of next generation high performance flexible supercapacitors.

All-carbon composite paper as a flexible conducting substrate for the direct growth of polyaniline particles and its applications in supercapacitors by Chao Zhang, Weng Weei Tjiu and Tianxi Liu Polym. Chem. 2013, 4, 5785-5792.

Julien Nicolas is a web-writer and advisory board member for Polymer Chemistry. He currently works at Univ. Paris-Sud (FR) as a CNRS researcher.

In their paper, Lacroix-Desmazes and co-workers reported the synthesis of a CeO₂/poly(vinylidene chloride) (PVDC) hybrid latex carried out via the functionalization of CeO₂ nanoparticles by reversible addition-fragmentation chain transfer (RAFT) polymerization from a phosphonated macro-RAFT agent, with very efficient formation of hybrid structures (neither free ceria nanoparticles nor free latex particles). This hybrid latex, obtained by emulsion polymerization with a reasonably high solid content (25%), represents a good candidate for the elaboration of high performance coatings. Furthermore, the authors also considered the use of such hybrid latexes as templates for the preparation of functional organic or inorganic porous materials with CeO₂ nanoparticles (or other nanoparticles) evenly distributed in the porous matrix.

A CeO₂/PVDC hybrid latex mediated by a phosphonated macro-RAFT agent by Jérôme Warnant, Jérôme Garnier, Alex van Herk, Pierre-Emmanuel Dufils, Jérôme Vinas and Patrick Lacroix-Desmazes Polym. Chem. 2013, 4, 5656-5663.

Julien Nicolas is a web-writer and advisory board member for Polymer Chemistry. He currently works at Univ. Paris-Sud (FR) as a CNRS researcher.

In this article, Zhang, Li and co-workers synthesized by Atom Transfer Radical Polymerization (ATRP) a highly water-soluble, multivalent and highly specific BODIPY-conjugated glycopolymer for direct tumor cell imaging, which showed good photostability. The cell viability of BODIPY-conjugated glycopolymers against HepG2 and NIH3T3 cells was more than 80%, indicating that the glycopolymers have low cytotoxicity to living cells. Moreover, simple incubation of living cells with a BODIPY-conjugated glycopolymer led to efficient internalization into HepG2 and clear visualization in cytoplasm, due to the high brightness of BODIPY and good specificity between HepG2 and galactose as compared to NIH3T3 cells. These results suggest that BODIPY-conjugated glycopolymers have potential use as fluorescent probes in live cell imaging.

Water-soluble BODIPY-conjugated glycopolymers as fluorescent probes for live cell imaging by Zhentan Lu, Lin Mei, Xinge Zhang, Yanan Wang, Yu Zhao and Chaoxing Li Polym. Chem. 2013, 4, 5743-5750.

Julien Nicolas is a guest web-writer and advisory board member for Polymer Chemistry. He currently works at Univ. Paris-Sud (FR) as a CNRS researcher.

In this paper, Huang, Guo and co-workers developed a novel micellar cross-linking copolymerization method to prepare highly stretchable and resilient hydrogels. The polymerization was based on free-radical copolymerization of water soluble acrylamide and a polymerizable macromolecular surfactant (i.e., amphiphilic polyurethane macromonomer) which can self-assemble into micelles acting as multifunctional cross-linkers. The mechanical properties, such as breaking elongation ratio, modulus and fracture toughness can be easily adjusted by varying the concentration of the polymerizable macromolecular surfactants. In addition, the mechanical energy storage efficiency (also known as resilience) was more than 96% at a strain up to 400%. These findings established a strategy for the preparation of hydrogels that combine high extendibility with excellent resilience and may greatly benefit the further use of hydrogels in tissue engineering and other soft materials research fields.

Highly stretchable and resilient hydrogels from the copolymerization of acrylamide and a polymerizable macromolecular surfactant by Mei Tan, Tingting Zhao, He Huang and Mingyu Guo Polym. Chem. 2013, 4, 5570-5576.

Julien Nicolas is a guest web-writer and advisory board member for Polymer Chemistry. He currently works at Univ. Paris-Sud (FR) as a CNRS researcher.

In this article, Stenzel and co-workers designed three different macromolecular Pt-drugs using Cu-click chemistry to attach a bidentate amino ligand to the polymer. Two statistical copolymers with different ligand densities were prepared, which were compared to the block copolymer. DNA binding studies revealed that the statistical copolymer with the highest density of Pt-drugs had the highest affinity to the DNA, due to a multivalent effect. Interestingly, when evaluating the cytotoxic effect of these macromolecular drugs using OVCAR-3 cells the activities of all three polymer architectures were similar. It can therefore be concluded that although DNA binding tests may give an initial indication on the ability of the structure to bind to the DNA, they cannot predict the outcome.

Macromolecular platinum-drugs based on statistical and block copolymer structures and their DNA binding ability by Khairil Juhanni Abd Karim, Sandra Binauld, Wei Scarano and Martina H. Stenzel Polym. Chem. 2013, 4, 5542-5554.

Julien Nicolas is a guest web-writer and advisory board member for Polymer Chemistry. He currently works at Univ. Paris-Sud (FR) as a CNRS researcher.