Top 10 most-read Polymer Chemistry articles in June

This month sees the following articles in Polymer Chemistry that are in the top ten most accessed for June:

Thiol-ene “click” reactions and recent applications in polymer and materials synthesis  
Prof. Andrew Brian Lowe 
Polym. Chem., 2010, 1, 17-36 
DOI: 10.1039/B9PY00216B 

New methods of polymer synthesis 
Christopher Barner-Kowollik, Jean-François Lutz and Sébastien Perrier 
Polym. Chem., 2012, 3, 1677-1679 
DOI: 10.1039/C2PY90007F 

2-(2,3,4,5,6-Pentafluorophenyl)-1H-benzo[d]imidazole, a fluorine-rich building block for the preparation of conjugated polymer donors for organic solar cell applications 
Marios Neophytou, Heraklidia A. Ioannidou, Theodosia A. Ioannou, Christos L. Chochos, Solon P. Economopoulos, Panayiotis A. Koutentis, Grigorios Itskos and Stelios A. Choulis  
Polym. Chem., 2012, 3, 2236-2243 
DOI: 10.1039/C2PY20198D 

Supramolecular three-armed star polymers via cyclodextrin host–guest self-assembly  
Bernhard V. K. J. Schmidt, Tobias Rudolph, Martin Hetzer, Helmut Ritter, Felix H. Schacher and Christopher Barner-Kowollik  
Polym. Chem., 2012, Advance Article 
DOI: 10.1039/C2PY20293J 

UCST-driven self-assembly and crosslinking of diblock copolymer micelles  
Peter J. Roth, Thomas P. Davis and Andrew B. Lowe  
Polym. Chem., 2012, 3, 2228-2235 
DOI: 10.1039/C2PY20204B 

Three new conjugated polymers based on benzo[2,1-b:3,4-b′]dithiophene: synthesis, characterization, photoinduced charge transfer and theoretical calculation studies  
Shaojie Chen, Qiuyu Zhang, Hepeng Zhang, Junwei Gu, Mingliang Ma, Tiejun Xin, Yanyang Zhou, Jian Zhou and Qing Liu  
Polym. Chem., 2012, 3, 2244-2253 
DOI: 10.1039/C2PY20122D 

Diels–Alder “click” reactions: recent applications in polymer and material science  
Mehmet Atilla Tasdelen  
Polym. Chem., 2011, 2, 2133-2145 
DOI: 10.1039/C1PY00041A 

Single-chain polymer nanoparticles via reversible disulfide bridges  
Bryan T. Tuten, Danming Chao, Christopher K. Lyon and Erik B. Berda  
Polym. Chem., 2012, Advance Article 
DOI: 10.1039/C2PY20308A 

Fluorescence resonance energy transfer in recognition-mediated polymer-quantum dot assemblies  
Vikas Nandwana, Brian Fitzpatrick, Qian Liu, Kyril M. Solntsev, Xi Yu, Gülen Yesilbag Tonga, Serkan Eymur, Murat Tonga, Graeme Cooke and Vincent M. Rotello  
Polym. Chem., 2012, Advance Article 
DOI: 10.1039/C2PY20353G 

Photo-responsive systems and biomaterials: photochromic polymers, light-triggered self-assembly, surface modification, fluorescence modulation and beyond  
Francesca Ercole, Thomas P. Davis and Richard A. Evans  
Polym. Chem., 2010, 1, 37-54 
DOI: 10.1039/B9PY00300B 

Why not take a look at the articles today and blog your thoughts and comments below.

Fancy submitting an article to Polymer Chemistry? Then why not submit to us today!

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Paper of the Week: Synthesis and charge-transporting properties of electron-deficient CN2–fluorene based D–A copolymers

Graphical abstract: Synthesis and charge-transporting properties of electron-deficient CN2–fluorene based D–A copolymers

The past decade has witnessed extensive concentration on the synthesis of conjugated polymers and their applications for organic electronic devices due to their low-cost, light-weight, and flexibility compared to their inorganic semiconductor counterparts. Donor–acceptor (D–A) copolymerization is a currently common strategy to design and synthesize potential semiconducting copolymers. In this study, Yao and co-workers reported on the synthesis of four D–A copolymers on the basis of a novel acceptor (A) unit of 9-fluorenylidene malononitrile (CN2–Fluorene) and four common donor (D) units of 9-alkylfluorene (P1), benzodithiophene (P2), bithiophene (P3), and dithienopyrrole (P4). These four copolymers exhibit a weak ICT absorption edge up to 800 nm. The HOMO energy levels of the copolymers are finely tuned by the donor units, while the LUMO energy levels of the copolymers are highly depressed and determined by the CN2–Fluorene unit. The hole mobility of P3 is measured as 1.43 x 10-3 cm2.V-1.s-1 under ambient conditions and that of P2 and P4 is on the order of 10-4 cm2.V-1.s-1. The results reveal that CN2–Fluorene is a new electron-acceptor unit and may be incorporated with proper electron-donors when designing semiconducting D–A copolymers.

Synthesis and charge-transporting properties of electron-deficient CN2–fluorene based D–A copolymers by Jianhua Huang, Yan Zhao, Xunlei Ding, Hui Jia, Bo Jiang, Zhiguo Zhang, Chuanlang Zhan, Shenggui He, Qibing Pei, Yongfang Li, Yunqi Liu and Jiannian Yao Polym. Chem. 20123, 2170-2177.

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Author of the Week: Ulrica Edlund

 

Ulrica Edlund, associate professor and senior lecturer at Fibre and Polymer Technology, KTH, was rewarded a Ph.D. in Polymer Technology in 2000 followed by a post-doctoral fellowship at the University of Pennsylvania, Philadelphia, USA. Since 2002, she is affiliated with KTH at Fibre and Polymer Technology. Her expertise comprises synthesis, surface modification, and characterization of polymeric biomaterials, the design of controlled drug delivery matrices, and the development of functional formulations and materials from renewable resources.

She has contributed to inventing and developing a new, non-destructive, one-step technique for the covalent surface modification of biomaterials. She has also been very active in the design of renewable functional materials for a sustainable future including renewable films, coatings, microspheres, and hydrogel formulations based on more or less purified non-cellulosic oligo- and polysaccharide rich fractions generated in commercial wood processing operations such as pulping (2 patents, 1 pending application).

She has received several awards, including the Nobel Foundation scholarship, and was in 2002 selected as one of the “outstanding young European scientists forming the future European network” by the European Polymer Federation. Ulrica was in 2010 awarded KTHs Teaching Award for outstanding efforts in undergraduate education.

What was your inspiration in becoming a chemist?

Chemistry never fails to intrigue me. Chemical processes are everywhere, in everything and they are what makes us exist. The more you learn about the chemistry, the more you know about the world. Why macromolecular chemistry in particular? Allow me to quote Professor de Gennes (Nobel laurate in 1991) who expressed that so elegantly:

“…it is not only their applications that make polymers so fascinating. The greatest incentive for polymer science is life itself. All the answers to the mystery of life are connected with polymers in one way or another.”

What was the motivation to write your Polymer Chemistry article? (DOI: 10.1039/C2PY20421E)

Protein fouling is a critical problem for the vast majority of biomaterials in contact with biological milleu, in particular blood plasma. So far only polymer based carboxybetaines have successfully prevented this negative event. The development of new materials with non-fouling surfaces is urgently requested in the biomedical materials industry. However, hybrids of biological and synthetic non-fouling polymers require the use of polymerisation techniques accounting for control at the molecular and supramolecular level while avoiding the use of any toxic catalysts or harsh conditions. How, us four co-authors asked ourselves, do we accomplish this and at the same time acknowledge the growing need for green conditions and renewable resources when developing new chemistry?

We have worked for many years with the development of hemicellulose-rich functional materials derived from by-products of the wood processing industry. In addition to being a cheap and renewable bulk material, we have previously shown that hemicellulose can be converted to multi-site initiators that are able to initiate single electron transfer living radical polymerisation (SET-LRP) and produce vinyl-graft-glucopolymers with a molecular brush-like architecture. In the present work, we developed such a macroinitiator as well as the new betaine monomers and combined them to achieve a state-of-the-art SET-LRP of these carboxybetaine monomers in water at room temperature. The prepared grafted copolymers self-assembled in spheres with the antifouling polymer at the external layer. We were excited to find that the assembled copolymers are remarkably stable in water. There are a range of possible bioapplications where the interaction with proteins must be prevented.

Why did you choose Polymer Chemistry to publish your work?

Polymer Chemistry is a relatively new, yet already well established, forum with high quality papers that cover a large span of chemical aspects related to macromolecular systems. Our paper does not really fit into just one corner of polymer chemistry, but addresses new advancements in “living” radical polymerisation, polysaccharide chemistry, self-assembly, as well as the needs for non-fouling biomaterials and renewable functional materials. We felt Polymer Chemistry would be the perfect place to reach a broader audience in both academia and industry and we are excited to have our work published in this journal.

In which upcoming conferences may our readers meet you?

My co-author Ann-Christine Albertsson and I look very much forward to attending the upcoming 244th ACS National Meeting in Philadelphia, USA, August 19-24. Later this year, October 23-25, we will be in Helsinki, Finland, for the Nordic Wood Biorefinery Conference.

How do you spend your spare times?

I have 3 children, three boys (ages 9, 6 and 3) so I do not have one minute of boredom! I am very lucky to enjoy their everyday company and to share their activities and interests, whether it is soccer practice, reading stories, playing computer games, or LEGO constructions. Whenever I can find some time, I play the piano and I also enjoy baking (which is chemistry, really…). I do plenty of experimenting with cakes and cup cakes at home, with the kind and quite messy help of my sons.

Which profession would you choose if you were not a chemist?

Oh, there are so many aspects of Natural Science and technology that I would really enjoy digging into. Lately, thanks to my older sons, I read and studied a lot about minerals and rocks, and I find geology very interesting. They also made me discover the fascinating world of dinosaurs. Paleontology, perhaps? In some way, somehow, I think I would still be a scientist.

 

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Paper of the Week: Stimuli-responsive cholesterol conjugated polymers

Graphical abstract: Synthesis, self-assembly and stimuli responsive properties of cholesterol conjugated polymers

Reversible addition–fragmentation chain transfer (RAFT) polymerization was used to generate well-defined pH-responsive biofunctional polymers as potential ‘smart’ gene delivery systems. A series of five poly(dimethylamino ethyl methacrylate-co-cholesteryl methacrylate) P(DMAEMA-co-CMA) statistical copolymers, with similar molecular weights and varying cholesterol content, were prepared. The syntheses, compositions and molecular weight distributions for P(DMAEMA-co-CMA) were monitored by nuclear magnetic resonance (NMR), solid-state NMR and gel permeation chromatography (GPC) evidencing well-defined polymeric structures with narrow polydispersities. Aqueous solution properties of the copolymers were investigated using turbidimetry and light scattering to determine hydrodynamic diameters and zeta potentials associated with the phase transition behaviour of P(DMAEMA-co-CMA) copolymers. UV-Visible spectroscopy was used to investigate the pH-responsive behaviour of copolymers. Hydrodynamic radii were measured in the range 10–30 nm (pH, temperature dependent) by dynamic light scattering (DLS). Charge studies indicated that P(DMAEMA-co-CMA) polymers have an overall cationic charge, mediated by pH. Potentiometric studies revealed that the buffering capacity and pKa values of polymers were dependent on cholesterol content as well as on cationic charge. The buffering capacity increased with increasing charge ratio, overall demonstrating transitions in the pH endosomal region for all five copolymeric structures. Cell viability assay showed that the copolymers displayed increasing cytotoxicity with decreasing number of cholesterol moieties. These preliminary results show the potential of these well-defined P(DMAEMA-co-CMA) polymers as in vitro siRNA delivery agents.

Synthesis, self-assembly and stimuli responsive properties of cholesterol conjugated polymers by Sema Sevimli,  Sharon Sagnella,  Maria Kavallaris,  Volga Bulmus and Thomas P. Davis Polym. Chem. 2012, 3, 2057-2069.

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Author of the Week: Prof. Shiao-Wei Kuo

Shiao-Wei Kuo received his BSc degree in Chemical Engineering from National Chung-Hsing University in 1998 and Ph.D degree in Applied Chemistry from National Chiao-Tung University in Taiwan in 2002 where he worked with Prof. Feng-Chih Chang. He continued his research work at Chiao-Tung University as a postdoctoral researcher during 2002-2007. From September 2005 to April 2006, he was also a postdoctoral researcher with Prof. Stephen Z. D. Cheng at the University of Akron in USA. He joined Department of Materials and Optoelectronic Science, National Sun Yat-Sen University in Taiwan as an assistant professor in 2007 and was promoted to associate professor in 2010. He has published ca. 160 research papers, 3 review articles and 3 book chapters. His research interests include polymer interactions, supramolecular chemistry, self-assembly nanostructures, mesoporous materials, POSS nanocomposites, polymer bioconjugates, and low surface free energy materials.

For more information see here: http://www.mse.nsysu.edu.tw/people/bio.php?PID=23

What was your inspiration in becoming a chemist?

When I was a high school student, I was interested in mathematics. Chemistry is difficult to attract me since we only learn the chemistry knowledge from the textbook and lack the hands-on chemical experiment at that moment. However, I had the highest score in chemistry for my university entrance exam held in Taiwan that year and I was assigned to department of chemical engineering in Chung-Hsing University. During that period, I discovered that polymer research is fascinating work and the hands-on experience in a laboratory setting provided me with numerous opportunities to corroborate what I had learned from textbook and then extend that knowledge to an independent search for innovative solutions. At Chiao-Tung University, the excellent research environment and abundant academic resources also enhanced my research capabilities and equipped me with the competence to fully realize my research aspirations in polymer chemistry, including the synthetic methods such as anionic polymerization, controlled radical living polymerization, and ring-opening polymerization.

What was the motivation behind the research in your recent Polymer Chemistry paper?(DOI:10.1039/C2PY20197F)

My Ph.D. thesis was focused on the hydrogen bonding interaction in polymer blend systems. At the end of postdoctoral research, my research interest was changed to self-assembly supramolecular structure of diblock copolymer mixture such as poly(styrene-b-vinyl phenol) diblock copolymer blending with poly(4-vinyl pyridine) or poly(methyl methacrylate) through hydrogen bonding interaction. In general, these interactions have been formed through single-site hydrogen bonding (e.g., hydroxyl, carboxyl, pyridyl, or ether groups), but they are relatively weaker than the complementary multiple hydrogen bonding interactions formed in DNA-like complexes. As a result, we wished to mimic DNA-like interactions to synthesize heteronucleobase (thymine)-containing diblock copolymers by using a combination of nitroxide-mediated radical polymerization and click chemistry, which we then blended with the adenine-based molecules to form self-assembly supramolecular structures, through strong complementary multiple hydrogen bonds, with different length scales.

Why did you choose Polymer Chemistry to publish your work?

From the website, the scope of Polymer Chemistry including novel properties and characterization of polymers, synthesis and application of polymer bioconjugates, supramolecular polymer chemistry, and polymer nanocomposites is very close to my recent research interest. It is natural for me to publish our research papers in this journal and we also publish several papers in this journal in this year due to broad readership and fast review process and publication. Most importantly, Polymer Chemistry is an excellent journal with high quality and impact manuscript in polymer science.

In which upcoming conferences may our readers meet you?

I will attend the Symposium about liquid crystal and supramolecular self-assembly structure in Xiangtan City in China during August 26-29, and the 2nd Symposium on Innovative Polymers for Controlled Delivery in Suzhou, in China during September 11-14.

How do you spend your spare times?

I have two small children and I spend almost my free time to take care of my daughter and son. I like travelling with my family and watching sport games on TV, especially in baseball and basketball when I have free time.

Which profession would you choose if you were not a scientist?

For hundreds of years and countless generations, people in my family have been farmers or fishermen in my hometown. My father and my brother both are still fishermen now and maybe I will enjoy this job to get along with the sea. However, I like to teach and to do research now and I think that it is the best choice for me at this moment.

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Introducing Brent Sumerlin as a new Polymer Chemistry Associate Editor

Brent S. SumerlinPolymer Chemistry is delighted to welcome Professor Brent S. Sumerlin as an Associate Editor.

“It is an honor to become an Associate Editor for Polymer Chemistry. Since it’s original launch in 2010, I have been an avid supporter of the journal in various capacities, most importantly as an author. The rapid success of the journal and its acceptance by polymer chemists worldwide is exciting. The editors, Editorial Board, Editorial Advisory Board, authors, and referees have worked hard to make this one of the top polymer journals. I look forward to contributing to the continued success and growth of Polymer Chemistry in the years to come.”

If you’d like to learn more about Professor Sumerlin’s own research you can find a few of his recent papers below. He’s also been featured as an ‘Author of the Week’ in 2011 and in video interview in earlier in the year.

Recent papers:

Professor Brent S. Sumerlin, Associate Editor Prof. Brent S. Sumerlin graduated with a B.S. from North Carolina State University (1998) and obtained a Ph.D. in Polymer Science and Engineering at the University of Southern Mississippi (2003) under the direction of Prof. Charles L. McCormick. After serving as a Visiting Assistant Professor at Carnegie Mellon University under the direction of Prof. Krzysztof Matyjaszewski (2003-2005), he joined the Department of Chemistry at Southern Methodist University (Dallas, Texas, USA) as an assistant professor in 2005 and was promoted to associate professor in 2009. Prof. Sumerlin joined the Department of Chemistry, the George and Josephine Butler Polymer Research Laboratory, and the Center for Macromolecular Science and Engineering at the University of Florida as an associate professor in the fall of 2012. He has received several awards, including an Oak Ridge Associated Universities Ralph E. Powe Award (2007), an NSF CAREER Award (2009), an ACS Leadership Development Award (2010), and an Alfred P. Sloan Research Fellowship (2010). He is a member of the editorial advisory boards for several journals and is now an Associate Editor of Polymer Chemistry. Current research in his group involves the synthesis of functional macromolecules, responsive polymer systems, polymer-protein bioconjugates, and dynamic covalent macromolecular assemblies.

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Paper of the Week: Hyperbranched polythioether-ynes by thiol-halogen click-like coupling and thiol-yne click polymerization

Fast and scalable production of hyperbranched polythioether-ynes was achieved by applying sequential click chemistry (SCC) via couple-monomer methodology (CMM). As a typical example, thiol-halogen click-like reaction employing strong base, KOH and thiol-yne click reaction via UV irradiation were used for precursor preparation and polymerization, respectively. Two series of hyperbranched polythioether-ynes employing two kinds of di-thiols with different reactivity have been prepared within 10 h and characterized with 1H NMR spectroscopy and gel permeation chromatography. The hyperbranched polymers (HPs) derived from 1,6-hexanedithiol reached high weight-average molecular weight (Mw) of 230500, high weight-average degree of polymerization (DPw) of 1224 and high degree of branching (DB) of 0.82–0.68. Postmodification of abundant alkyne terminal groups afford HPs with a greatly enhanced DB of 0.96. Heat-initiated polymerization was also attempted. The present study clearly demonstrates the robustness of application of SCC technique in the CMM strategy for fast, scalable preparation of multifunctional HPs.

Fast and scalable production of hyperbranched polythioether-ynes by a combination of thiol-halogen click-like coupling and thiol-yne click polymerization by Jin Han, Bo Zhao, Aijin Tang, Yanqin Gao and Chao Gao Polym. Chem., 2012, 3, 1918-1925

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

 

 

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Author of the Week: Wantai Yang

Dr Wantai Yang received his bachelor’s degree from Tsinghua University in China in 1982 and MS degree in 1985 from Beijing Institute of Chemical Technology (presently known as Beijing University of Chemical Technology, BUCT), and Ph.D. degree from Royal Institute of Technology in Sweden in 1996. He started his research career in 1985 at BUCT where he is currently a Professor of Polymer Chemistry and serves as Dean of College of Materials Sci. & Eng. He has published more than 290 peer-reviewed papers in international journals and filed over 15 patents. He also has been an invited speaker and/or chairman at more than 20 international meetings. Professor Yang has received many honors and awards for his outstanding research achievements, including Natural Science Award of Ministry of Education (2009), China National Science Fund for Distinguished Young Scholar (1999) and Chair Professor of Cheung Kong Scholars Programme (2001). He is the Vice-President of Chinese Society for Imaging Science and Technology (CSIST), and members of the editorial board of several journals including Biomacromolecules, Chinese Journal of Polymer Science, Membrane Sci. and Tech., Process Engineering and Thermosetting Resin.

His research interest focuses on basic/fundamental chemistry for polymer synthesis and modification. At present his main directions include photopolymerization, controlled/living polymerization, heterogeneous polymerization, new chemistry for surface modification of  organic polymeric material.

For more information, see: http://www.cmse1.buct.edu.cn/ywt/cncss/yjly.asp

What was your inspiration in becoming a chemist?

There are two reasons for me to become a chemist. One is the strong will to know what is polymer science, which seems so curious and mysterious to me before I went to university. Another is due to my high school teacher, who is a very kind person. When I knew he graduated from major of Polymer Science of Tsinghua University just before applying to university, I firmly determined to study polymer science.

What was the motivation to write this article? (DOI: 10.1039/C2PY20117H)

As we known, although the developments in the past 20 years have involved a series of breakthroughs in the living radical polymerization (LRP) field, we have to face the fact that due to inherent drawbacks for each method, even abundant efforts have been endeavored, large-scale industrial applications of LRP remain a big challenge, and a possible alternative solution is return to full organic system. We have presented the first example of living radical graft polymerization on the surface of polymeric materials by use of benzophenone (BP), xanthone and 9-fluorenone as graft polymerization photoinitiators (Macromolecules, 1996, 29, 3308). Therefore, one motivation of this work is to direct the similar reaction into bulk and solution polymerization system to open/explore a novel controlled/living radical polymerization. While another motivation, we hope, our work could attract more chemists pay attention to full organic, especially to this kind of system with cycloketone compounds.

Why did you choose Polymer Chemistry to publish your work?

Although it is a new journal, Polymer Chemistry has become one of top journal in polymer science. It is our great pleasure to publish our work in this journal due to its good visibility.

In which upcoming conferences may our readers meet you?

I will attend the 20th Annual International Conference on Composites or Nano Engineering, ICCE-20, July 22-28, 2012 in Beijing and the 244th ACS National Meeting in Philadelphia on 19–23 August 2012.

How do you spend your spare times?

I enjoy swimming, sing songs, or listen to music.

Which profession would you choose if you were not a scientist?

I would probably be a farmer or architect.

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Paper of the Week: Poly(ethylene) brushes grafted to silicon substrates

A poly(glycidyl methacrylate) (PGMA) synthesized by RAFT polymerization was spin-coated onto a silicon substrate to yield, after annealing and rinsing unreacted chains, covalently attached epoxy-containing PGMA pseudo-brushes. A tailor-made ω-amino-poly(ethylene) (Mn = 1040 g mol−1, PDI = 1.3) was then grafted in melt at 130 °C for 24 h by reaction between amine chain-ends and surface-tethered epoxy groups. After discarding unreacted poly(ethylene) chains by sonication and Soxhlet rinsing, the resulting poly(ethylene) brushes were characterized by scanning probe microscopy, water contact angle and neutron reflectivity measurements. The grafting of poly(ethylene) brushes to silicon substrates has thus been demonstrated for the first time and resulted in nanostructured grafted layers with homogeneous surface coverage.

Poly(ethylene) brushes grafted to silicon substrates by Denis Damiron, Jérôme Mazzolini, Fabrice Cousin, Christophe Boisson, Franck D’Agosto and Eric Drockenmuller Polym. Chem., 2012, 3, 1838-1845.

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Paper of the Week: From-syndiotactic-to-isotactic stereogradient polymers

Graphical abstract: From-syndiotactic-to-isotactic stereogradient methacrylic polymers by RAFT copolymerization of methacrylic acid and its bulky esters

Stereogradient polymers are a new class of polymers in which the tacticity continuously changes from one chain end to the other. Such polymers may exhibit special properties or functions that originate from gradual changes in the physical or chemical properties along the polymer backbone. In this article, the synthesis of stereogradient polymers with tacticities that vary from predominantly syndiotactic to highly isotactic was investigated by reversible addition–fragmentation chain transfer (RAFT) copolymerization of bulky methacrylates, such as triphenylmethyl methacrylate (TrMA) and 1-phenyldibezosuberyl methacrylate (PDBSMA) and methacrylic acid (MAA) in both non-polar and polar solvents. With the differing reactivities and stereospecificities or TrMA and MAA, the isotacticity of the resulting copolymer gradually increased from 11% to nearly 100% along the polymer chain. Interestingly, the reported method can be applied to the synthesis of various stereogradient poly(MAA)s or polymethacrylates by postpolymerization modification.

From-syndiotactic-to-isotactic stereogradient methacrylic polymers by RAFT copolymerization of methacrylic acid and its bulky esters by Kenji Ishitake , Kotaro Satoh , Masami Kamigaito and Yoshio Okamoto, Polym. Chem., 20123, 1750-1757.

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