Educational series: turning monomers into crosslinked polymer networks

Abstract

Multifunctional monomers enable the synthesis of polymer networks by adapting the polymerization methods used for conventional linear polymer synthesis. Both step and chain polymerization methods can be combined with multifunctional monomers to generate networks with essentially infinite molecular weight. Traditional networks are held together through covalent crosslinks that derive from the multifunctional monomers. Additional approaches to network like materials involve polymer phase separation, forming non-covalent crosslink-points. This contribution provides an overview of the approaches and chemistries available for polymer network synthesis, and serves as a resource for researchers exploring polymer networks or attempting alternative approaches to network development.