We introduce the versatile reactivity of ketenes to polymer chemistry. New materials synthesized take advantage of Meldrum's acid as both a synthetic building block and a thermolytic precursor to dialkyl ketenes. The inherent property of the ketene functional group provides crosslinking via dimerization, acts as a reactive chemical handle viaaddition, or both. To date, this Meldrum's acid-based system has provided opportunities in a number of advanced applications, including the surface chemical patterning of substrates, controlled crosslinking of commodity polyolefins, surface neutralization of block copolymer lithography substrates, and fabrication of mechanically robust, solvent�stable nanostructured materials. The facile access to Meldrum's acid containing polymers and the well-developed chemistry of ketenes assure that this methodology will be a powerful tool for chemists, materials scientists, and engineers in the future.Figure 1.  Generating crosslinked and functionalized polymer systems through our ketene-based methodology

Chemisitry and application of ketene functionalized polymers

245th National Meeting (2013)

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