Themed collection Polymer Chemistry: 5 years on

Polymer membranes prepared by layer-by-layer depostition provide a highly promising platform for the development of an efficient and sustainable technique for separation.

The integration of several responsive moieties within one polymer yields smart polymers exhibiting a multifaceted responsive behaviour.

Fatty acids and their derivatives as resources for renewable speciality polymers.

This work presents a comprehensive review on the progress of the “breath figures” technique for structuring porous membranes. It focuses on the study of variables, materials, current and potential applications and characterization techniques.

Band gaps and molecular energy level modulations of conjugated polymers containing benzo[1,2-b:4,5-b′]dithiophene (BDT) exhibit promising power conversion efficiencies for polymer solar cells.

In recent years a variety of metal-ligand complexes were explored for the ring-opening polymerization of lactides. Besides catalytic activity, the stereoselective behavior has received great interest.

Combining the concepts of click chemistry and controlled radical polymerizations (CRPs), “clickable” initiators and monomers for CRPs as well as the postmodification reactions of prefunctional polymers have been widely used to construct clickable macromolecules.

A comprehensive review of the recent advances in the synthesis of well-defined bioconjugates from controlled/living radical polymerization, including proteins, peptides and oligonucleotides, is presented and outlines work up to early 2010.

In this review we summarize the most recent developments in conjugated polymers for high-efficiency organic photovoltaic devices. We focus on correlations of polymer chemical structures with properties, which may guide rational structural design and evaluation of photovoltaic materials.

This review highlights examples of recent applications of both the radical-mediated and base/nucleophile-initiated thiol-ene reactions in polymer and materials synthesis. Initial discussion focuses on mechanistic aspects of these reactions and also notes some of the structural considerations, with respect to reactants, that should be considered when practising such chemistries.

Polymerization-Induced Self-Assembly (PISA) – control over the morphology of nanoparticles for drug delivery applications.

An aggregation induced emission dye (PhNH₂) with two amino end groups was facilely incorporated into fluorescent organic nanoparticles (RO-OA FONs) through one-step room temperature anhydride ring-opening polymerization.

A novel strategy was developed to fabricate red fluorescent organic nanoparticles (R-PEG FONs) based on a cross-linkable aggregation induced emission dye (R-E) and thus obtained FONs were subsequently utilized for cell imaging applications.

Ligand mediated termination events occur during the homo-polymerisation of methyl (MA) and butyl (BA) acrylate under SET-LRP (Cu(0) mediated) conditions.

The nucleation and growth of nascent Cu(0) nanoparticles formed by disproportionation during SET-LRP on the surface of Cu(0) wire was demonstrated by Scanning Electron Microscopy analysis of the Cu(0) wire surface.

Host-enhanced π–π interaction is employed as the driving force to construct supramolecular hyperbranched polymers.

The conjugated copolymer of isoindigo and dithienosilole was synthesized and studied in bulk heterojunction solar cells with fullerene derivatives.

Polydopamine-coatings can be prepared in acidic, neutral and alkaline aqueous media by oxidant-induced polymerization, which is material-independent and multifunctional for surface modification.

The successful sunlight induced ATRP of methyl methacrylate catalyzed by dimanganese decacarbonyl with an alkyl halide–Cu^IIBr₂–PMDETA system is reported.

Fluorescent organic nanoparticles based on polymerizable aggregation induced emission dye were fabricated through emulsion polymerization and utilized for cell imaging applications.

A supramolecular polymer with alternating [c2]daisy-chain dimer and macrocycle host dimer as repeating units is fabricated.

A stimuli-responsive and self-healing cross-linked supramolecular polymer network gel is prepared by orthogonal self-assembly of two homoditopic monomers and a metallic cross-linker.

A novel pH-responsive supramolecular polymer based on the pillar[5]arene/imidazolium cation recognition motif was successfully prepared.

The crucial step of SET-LRP, disproportionation of CuX and activation of the initiator by nascent Cu(0) particles, was visualized in polar and nonpolar solvents and monomers to elucidate SET-LRP mechanism.

The immortal nature of the SET-LRP of MA was demonstrated by interrupting and restarting the reaction by removing the Cu(0) wire catalyst using two different experimental methodologies.

In SET-LRP of OEOMEA, activated Cu(0) wire and Cu(0) nanoparticles resulted in a higher polymerization rate in water than in DMSO.

A new iterative copper(0)-mediated radical polymerization approach is presented that represents a significant advance in the synthesis of high order multi-block star copolymers. The synthesis of these materials can now be achieved in high yield and with controlled structural complexity, with purification only required at the last step. The approach is general, facile and offers the opportunity to synthesize new copolymer stars.

A series of disulfide-core-cross-linked poly(ethylene glycol)-poly(amino acid)s nanogels were prepared through one-step ring-opening polymerization of N-carboxyanhydride monomers and used as efficient intracellular drug delivery carriers.

Poly(arylene ether)s containing quaternized ammonio-substituted fluorenyl groups were synthesized and evaluated as anion exchange membranes for alkaline fuel cell applications.