Polymer Chemistry Blog

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.

In this context, Tao, Wei and co-workers have revisited the Biginelli reaction as a potential tri-component click chemistry. Through the quick and efficient modification of polymer side groups and locking of two polymer chains, Biginelli-type homopolymers and Biginelli-locked copolymers can be facilely and quantitatively obtained. Moreover, the Biginelli reaction showed good compatibility with RAFT polymerization to construct a one-pot MCP system. Both reactions proceeded well without interference, and almost neat Biginelli functionalized homopolymers were successfully achieved in a one-pot fashion. More importantly, the Biginelli reaction can also be recognized as a ‘catalyst-free’ bioorthogonal-click reaction, through which a fluorescent probe can be covalently anchored onto cell membranes without external addition of a catalyst, implying the potential application of the Biginelli reaction in chemical biology.

A new insight into the Biginelli reaction: the dawn of multicomponent click chemistry? by Chongyu Zhu, Bin Yang, Yuan Zhao, Changkui Fu, Lei Tao and Yen Wei Polym. Chem. 2013, 4, 5395-5400.

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 their paper, Leclerc and co-workers reported the preparation of N-octylthieno[3,4-c]pyrrole-4,6-dione with 4,4-bis(2-ethylhexyl)-dithieno[3,2-b:2′,3′-d]silole (PDTSiTPD) and 4,4-bis(2-ethylhexyl)-dithieno[3,2-b:2′,3′-d]germole (PDTGeTPD), which have exhibited high efficiencies in organic solar cells, using direct (hetero)arylation polymerization methodologies. In order to circumvent side reactions leading to cross-linked polymers, a number of new dithieno[3,2-b:2′,3′-d]silole (DTSi) monomers were prepared where the β-positions were blocked with alkyl chains and the alkyl groups on the heteroatom were modified. Co-polymers were synthesized with N-alkylthieno[3,4-c]pyrrole-4,6-dione (TPD) and the oxygen congener, N-alkylfuro[3,4-c]pyrrole-4,6-dione (FPD).

Direct heteroarylation of β-protected dithienosilole and dithienogermole monomers with thieno[3,4-c]pyrrole-4,6-dione and furo[3,4-c]pyrrole-4,6-dione by Lauren G. Mercier, Badrou Réda Aïch, Ahmed Najari, Serge Beaupré, Philippe Berrouard, Agnieszka Pron, Amélie Robitaille, Ye Tao and Mario Leclerc Polym. Chem. 2013, 4, 5252-5260.

This article is part of the Polymer Chemistry themed collection on Conjugated polymers.

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 their study, Iyer and co-workers synthesized a non toxic conjugated polymer, poly(1,4-bis-(8-(8-hydroxyquinoline)-octyloxy)-benzene) (PHQ), able to bind iron containing heme and non-heme proteins, such as ferritin, at nanomolar levels with the highest known selectivity in cerebrospinal fluid (CSF). It has been employed to interact with the bound iron, including non-heme ferritin, in the Ab protofibril aggregates and to diminish their accumulation. The anti-AD activity of PHQ was confirmed via in vitro control studies by doping CSF of healthy individuals with Ab(1–40) with and without iron using a Thioflavin-T binding assay test and electron microscopy analysis. This new strategy to clear the cerebral deposits using conjugated polymers enables the toxic aggregated Ab peptide fibrils present in the CSF to be successfully disrupted under physiological conditions.

A rapid and sensitive detection of ferritin at a nanomolar level and disruption of amyloid β fibrils using fluorescent conjugated polymer by B. Muthuraj, Sameer Hussain and Parameswar Krishnan Iyer, Polym. Chem. 2013, 4, 5096-5107 .

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.