Themed collection Polymer Chemistry Most Popular 2022

Resolving the anonymity of plastic materials is critical for safeguarding the well-being of our natural environments and human health.

Terms used for mechanisms of polymer growth are varied and problematic; we detail here our concerns with the terms “step-growth” and “chain-growth.” Ultimately, we seek terms that are simple, accurate, and attractive to the polymer community.

The ongoing research activities in the fields of bottom-up synthesis of thermally conductive polymers and thermal transport mechanisms in polymers are reviewed. Perspectives on developing polymers with high thermal conductivities are discussed.

This review highlights past and ongoing attempts to harness thiocarbonyl compounds in polymer chemistry, focussing on how the unique and multifaceted reactivity of these compounds enables the production of materials with tailored properties.

This review summarizes recent progress in smart multicompartment particles based on PVP-containing block copolymers, including their preparation strategies, properties, and applications.

Reversible complexation mediated polymerization (RCMP) was developed as a new class of controlled radical polymerization (CRP) using organic catalysts. In particular, photo-RCMP is among the simplest, cheapest, and most robust photoinduced CRPs.

This review provides comprehensive knowledge on synthetic methods of star polymer networks – structurally controlled three-dimensional networks of polymer chains by means of end-linking between monodisperse star polymers.

Fluorescein polymer-brush functionalized glass beads synthesize polymers via photoelectron reversible addition fragmentation chain transfer (PET-RAFT) polymerization. These shelf stable heterogeneous catalysts can be recycled after simple filtration.

A newly designed azo-PI, without pre-stretching or polarized-light irradiation, exhibits reversible bending behaviors under alternate UV and visible light irradiation, providing a facile route to deformable 2D/3D structure actuators.

Dialysis diffusion kinetics are performed via in situ NMR spectroscopy for numerous different raw polymeric solutions to result in a general guideline for polymer purification using dialysis.

Cationic RAFT of vinyl ethers was performed without reagent purification and under ambient conditions by utilizing a PCCP acid initiator with a HBD catalyst. Despite inherent nucleophiles, the system retained high chain end fidelity and modularity.

We describe an emulsion polymerization route towards the design of structured latex particles containing semi-crystalline domains with improved mechanical properties.

A novel triptycene-containing dioxazine benzoxazine monomer and a main-chain benzoxazine copolymer have been synthesized and their corresponding thermosets exhibit excellent thermal stability, low flammability and low dielectric constants.

Controlling the dispersity of PSS allows to control the performance of PEDOT:PSS in organic electrochemical transistors (OECTs).

This study describes covalent adaptable networks with enhanced processability and creep resistance by combining vinylogous urea/urethane and β-amino ester based dynamic covalent motifs.

The dataset used to generate IUPAC benchmark Arrhenius parameters for propagation rate coefficients in radical polymerization is extended and reanalyzed, taking into account systematic interlaboratory variation.

Chromium complexes bearing phenoxy-imine-amine NNO-tridentate ligands are superior toward ethylene polymerization, exhibiting unprecedented activity and excellent thermal stability but requiring a small amount of MAO as a cocatalyst.

The impact of reversible deactivation in photo-inifierter RAFT polymerization on control and livingness of the process is investigated. The findings are used to create multiblock copolymers with high molecular weight and efficient chain extension.

Computational studies show that the activity of ATRP catalysts can be dramatically improved using quinuclidine bridgehead ligands.

This paper demonstrated that the hues of both neutral and oxidised colours of isoindigo-based donor–acceptor polymers could be tuned subtly by means of variation of the number and type of donor groups.