Radical polymerization has been at the forefront of polymer synthesis for decades and has led to an array of materials found in everyday life. The polymers generated through this process are traditionally characterized by their robust properties that derive from the all-carbon backbone produced through sequential additions across carbon-carbon double bonds. While this feature is essential to many of the applications currently in use, this also limits the potential for the design of new responsive materials that could benefit from the functional group-tolerant radical reaction conditions. This presentation will show how new innovations in radical ring-opening polymerization with thionolactone monomers can lead to upgraded copolymers of classical acrylate and acrylamide materials in which reactive thioesters are incorporated into the polymer backbone. Through modification of the thionolactone structure, reactivity ratios can be tuned for compatibility with different monomer classes and also control the distribution of the thioesters in the polymer chain. Two classes of thionolactone monomers will be discussed to demonstrate how this platform can be used to install thioesters evenly throughout the polymer chain or precisely placed at diblock junctions to provide tunable polymer degradation when subjected to a variety of external stimuli.<br/>

From random to blocky: Tuning the degradation of thioester-containing radical polymers

Macromolecular Chemistry: The Second Century

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ACS Spring 2020 National Meeting & Expo

The official archive and repository for all ACS Meetings & Expositions abstracts and select posters or presentations.