Polymer Chemistry Blog

A team led by James Batteas and David Bergbreiter at Texas A&M University, USA, have designed “smart” acrylamide copolymers with reversible redox behaviour which changes  lower critical solution temperature. The polymers are contain on N-isopropyl and 4-N-amino-2,2,6,6-tetramethylpiperidin-1-oxyl-4-yl (TEMPO) groups. Oxidation or reduction varies the copolymer’s lower critical solution temperature from 18 °C to 35–40 °C.

The team say that these smart polymers could lead to the design of redox-sensitive materials for drug delivery applications in vivo or in the synthesis of surfaces with redox-mediated wettability.

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A team of scientists led by Ben Zhong Tang at The Hong Kong University of Science & Technology, China, have developed a highly sensitive chemosensor for detecting explosives.

The sensor is based on the quenching of fluorescence. Light emission of a hyperbranched poly(silylenephenylene) is quenched exponentially by picric acid, with quenching constant up to  1.5 × 105 L mol−1. This superamplification effect makes the polymer a highly sensitive chemosensor for explosive detection.

Interested to know more? Read the full article here:
Jianzhao Liu, Yongchun Zhong, Ping Lu, Yuning Hong, Jacky W. Y. Lam, Mahtab Faisal, Yong Yu, Kam Sing Wong and Ben Zhong Tang, Polym. Chem., 2010, 1, 426-429 DOI:10.1039/C0PY00046A

Eiji Yashima and colleagues at Nagoya University, Japan, have synthesised two novel optically active poly(phenylacetylene)s bearing riboflavin (vitamin B2) residues. The pendant groups showed a reversible redox behavior which accompanied a reversible change in the chiroptical properties.

This article was selected as a Hot Article by the Polymer Chemistry Editorial Board. Interested to know more? Why not read the full article:

Hiroki Iida, Tomohisa Mizoguchi, Seong-Dae Oh and Eiji Yashima, Polym. Chem., 2010, 1, 841-848 DOI:10.1039/C0PY00044B

Kenji Miyatake, Masahiro Watanabe and colleagues at the University of Yamanashi, Japan, synthesised ionomers as anion exchange membranes for alkaline fuel cell applications. The ionomers are based on poly(arylene ether)s containing quaternized ammonio-substituted fluorenyl groups.

The membranes were thermally stable up to 180 °C under nitrogen and mechanically stable with 48 MPa of the maximum stress at 80 °C and 60% relative humidity. High hydroxide ion conductivity up to 50 mS cm−1 was achieved at 30 °C in water for the ionomer membrane bearing sulfone/ketone structures and the highest IEC (2.54 meq. g−1). The membranes were durable in hot water (80 °C) for 1000 hours. The properties of the ionomer membranes make them promising candidates as an anion exchange membrane for alkaline fuel cells the team say.

Interested to know more? Read the full article:

Manabu Tanaka, Masaki Koike, Kenji Miyatake and Masahiro Watanabe, Polym. Chem., 2011, DOI: 10.1039/C0PY00238K