The ease and convenience involved in the one-pot syntheses of hyperbranched polymers using the CuAAC mechanism makes these polymers ideal starting points for the construction of a variety of polymeric macromolecules. However, due to the irregularity of their final structures inherently resulting from their step-growth mechanism, improving the uniformity of the molecular weights of hyperbranched polymers becomes a parameter desirable to regulate. The copolymerization of a trifunctional B3 core with an AB2 monomer using copper catalyzed azide-alkyne cycloaddition (CuAAC) polymerization techniques produces a hyperbranched polymer with a molecular weight in the hundreds of thousands as well as a sophisticated, layered architecture, and thousands of dangling reactive groups. Such dangling groups, in addition to peripheral azide groups from the AB2 monomer, are then available for post-functionalization modifications. When consecutively integrated, copolymerizations and post-functionalizations provide greater accessibility to a broad range of desired hyperbranched polymers both in molecular weight and surface functionalities. It is known that thiolene reactions exhibit high conversions, and thus, such reactions highlight the versatility and applicability of post-functionalizations of copolymers. Due to the diversity of thiols readily available, a variety of functional groups are able to be appended to the surface of hyperbranched polymers via this thiolene mechanism. The development of multi-layered hyperbranched polymers introduces the ability to change the properties of the polymer, especially concerning solubility, which has promising applications in topics such as drug delivery methods and light harvesting techniques.

Synthesis of hyperbranched polymers with post-functionalization specificity

255th National Meeting (2018)

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