Synthesis of well-defined multigraft copolymers

Abstract

This short review article focuses on significant developments made in the pursuit of well-defined graft copolymers over the past decade or so. The state-of-the-art for synthesis of the complex copolymers has been greatly advanced over this time period. Anionic polymerization techniques now allow for synthesis of narrow polydispersity multigraft copolymers with control over branch spacing, number of branch points, and branch point functionality. Other controlled/living polymerization techniques are being exploited to increase the chemical diversity of these materials. Future work in this area will focus on synthesis of more complex architectures and incorporation of three or more chemical building blocks into the materials.