Bottlebrush polymers are shape-persistent, single macromolecules consisting of a polymer backbone functionalized with many polymer sidechains. This rich polymer topology is unique because bottlebrush polymers differ from their linear analogues in their size, shape persistence, cylindrical nanostructure, and their inability to interact through chain entanglement. Despite this versatility, to date, the applications of bottlebrush polymers remain largely unexplored. Here, we utilize bottlebrush polymers as nanoreactors—a novel application which takes advantage of their shape-persistent nature. Core-shell bottlebrush polymers were prepared that contained latent catalyst residues. Upon UV irradiation, these bottlebrush nanoreactors catalysed reactions between encapsulated molecules to generate compounds in situ triggered by an external stimuli.

Bottlebrush nanoreactors for In situ synthesis

255th National Meeting (2018)

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