" Thiol-yne” click reaction has already been widely applied in synthesis and modification of new polymer structures or novel materials due to its specific features. However, in most studies, only chain-end strategy was employed when using the di-addition feature of thiol-yne reaction, thus the in-chain di-addition strategy could endow us with a broader space to develop the synthesis of advanced polymers. Therefore, in this paper, the features of in-chain mono- and di-addition were investigated when modifying the alkyne-functionalized polymers to prepare grafted polymers via thiol-yne click reaction. The results showed that it is almost impossible to obtain the in-chain di-adducts even under excess feeding of chain-end thiol-functionalized grafts, while only the in-chain mono-adducts could be obtained efficiently. Further researches investigated that the controlled grafting could be encountered when carrying out the thiol-yne click reaction between chain-end alkyne-functionalized polystyrenes and chain-end thiol-functionalized polystyrenes under proper feedings. Therefore, the effect of steric-hindrance might be the primary reason for the alternative grafting via thiol-yne click reaction between in-chain and chain-end alkyne-functionalized polymers.

Mixtures of a weak protonic acid and a trace amount of superstrong protonic acid were used for the simple control of the cationic polymerization of vinyl ethers via a degenerative chain-transfer mechanism, in which the former acid works as a precursor of the chain transfer agent (CTA) or the dormant species and the latter works as a source of the cationic propagating species. The addition of mixtures of phosphoric acid dibutyl ester ((n-BuO)₂PO₂H) or 1-octanethiol (n-C₈H₁₇SH) and a trace amount of trifluoromethanesulfonic acid (TfOH) to a solution of isobutyl vinyl ether (IBVE) at −78 °C resulted in polymers with controlled molecular weights, which were basically determined by the feed ratio of IBVE to the weak protonic acid, and narrow molecular weight distributions (M_w/M_n ≈ 1.1). These results were almost the same as those obtained using their prepared adducts of IBVE as CTAs in the presence of a trace amount of TfOH under similar conditions. Methanesulfonic acid (CH₃SO₃H), whose adduct of IBVE has not been isolated due to instability, was similarly used in conjunction with trace TfOH to result in controlled molecular weights but slightly broader MWDs (M_w/M_n = 1.2–1.8). These results indicate that the sulfoxonium ion is also an effective intermediate in the cationic DT polymerization in addition to the phosphonium and sulfonium intermediates derived from (n-BuO)₂PO₂H and n-C₈H₁₇SH, respectively. The simple living cationic polymerization was thus achieved by using a combination of a weak protonic acid and a trace amount of TfOH, which are both easily available, low cost, free from metal, and easy to handle, without need for preparation of the initiator.

Functionalized aliphatic polyesters attract increasing attentions as biocompatible and biodegradable polymers with broad applications in biological science. In this contribution, we propose a facile and controllable synthetic technique for functional poly(ε-caprolactone) (PCL) via Janus polymerization, which comprises cationic ring-opening copolymerization (ROP) of ε-caprolactone (CL) with 3,3-bis(chloromethyl)oxacyclobutane (CO) and (coordinated) anionic ROP of CL at a single propagating chain by rare earth metal triflates (RE(OTf)₃) and propylene oxide, thus generating block copolymers in one step. The compositions of the copolymers of poly(CL-b-(CL-r-CO)) can be modulated by various RE(OTf)₃. Scandium triflate catalyzes Janus polymerization to yield the copolymers containing the highest CO contents among all the RE(OTf)₃ catalysts used with complete conversion of CL. The chlorine in CO repeating units is ready to be transferred into azide group which affords the modification sites to react with 9-ethynyl-9-fluorenol and mPEG-alkyne, respectively, via copper(I)-catalyzed azide-alkyne cycloaddition reaction with quantitative conversions of azides, as confirmed by FTIR analyses. According to NMR and SEC analyses, copolymers (PCC-g-PEG) bearing a homo-PCL block and a PEG-grafted block of poly(CO-co-CL) demonstrate well-defined chemical structures. The investigations on thermal properties reveal the strong phase separation between PCL and PEG blocks. The amphiphilic PCC-g-PEG is able to self-assemble into micelles in aqueous solution while cylindrical and lamellar morphologies are observed in bulk. We provide an efficient protocol to synthesize functional PCL combining one-step Janus polymerization and precise post-polymerization click reaction.

A rod-rod diblock copolymer (diBCP), poly(3-hexylthiophene)-block-poly(furfuryl isocyanate) (P3HT-b-PFIC), was synthesized through the anionic polymerization with an oxyanionic macroinitiator of P3HT. The properties of the diBCP (molecular weight, dispersity, composition, thermal stability, UV-visible absorption, and thin film morphology) were determined by various analytical methods. P3HT-b-PFIC was blended with C₆₀ in a toluene solution to prepare a thin film of binary electron donor/acceptor system. Such blending enabled partial conjugation of the two components by the Diels-Alder reaction between furan and C₆₀ at 60 °C for 3 h; the mixture was then spin-cast as a thin film, and annealed at 250 °C for 24 h. Tapping-mode atomic force microscopy (AFM) revealed that P3HT and C₆₀ domains had nanoscale interfaces without a large phase segregation. This result indicated that the microphase separation of C₆₀-functionalized P3HT-b-PFIC preserved even at high temperature provided free C₆₀ molecules with channels to diffuse on the sides of P3HT domain, thus preventing the macroscopic crystallization of free C₆₀ through the interfacial stabilization.

We report here a method for the preparation of amphiphilic dendrimer-like copolymers with dendritic polystyrene (PS) core and protonated poly(2-vinyl pyridine) (P2VP) or poly(methacrylic acid) (PMAA) shell. The method employed the efficient coupling reaction of anionic living polymer chains and chlorosilane. The synthesis started from a functionalized 3^rd generation dendritic polystyrene, G3PS-g-SiCl, used as the precursor. The dendrimer-like copolymer of styrene and 2-vinyl pyridine, G3PS-g-P2VP, was synthesized by direct coupling of living P2VPLi to the precursor. The dendrimer-like copolymer of styrene and tert-butyl methacrylate, G3PS-g-PtBMA, was synthesized by an indirect procedure in which a living polymer containing mainly PtBMA segment was attached to the precursor. Both methods resulted in the formation of dendrimer-like copolymers with the high molecular weights (up to 8.5 × 10⁶ Da), large molecular sizes (diameter up to 73 nm), and dense shells (number of arms up to 1300). These products, G3PS-g-P2VP and G3PS-g-PtBMA, were protonated with trifluoroacetic acid and acidic hydrolyzed, respectively. After transformation, amphiphilic dendrimer-like copolymers, G3PS-g-P2VPH⁺ and G3PS-g-PMAA, were obtained. Preliminary results on the solution properties of the amphiphilic products were presented.

This work investigates the effect of reaction conditions on the copolymerization of isobutylene (IB) with alloocimene (Allo) in methyl chloride (MeCl) using AlCl₃ and ethylaluminum dichloride (EtAlCl₂) as coinitiators and adventitious moisture as the initiator. Both AlCl₃ and EtAlCl₂ produced high molecular weight (M_n > 1.0 × 10⁵ g/mol) thermoplastic elastomers (TPEs) with good mechanical properties in short reaction time (< 10 min). These unique TPEs have unsaturations in the end blocks, leading to easy functionalization and/or crosslinking.

The cationic polymerization of C₄ mixed feed and isobutylene co-initiated by AlCl₃×OⁱPr₂, ⁱBuAlCl₂×nOⁱPr₂, and [emim]Cl-FeCl₃×nOⁱPr₂ ([emim]Cl: 1-ethyl-3-methylimidazolium chloride) has been investigated. AlCl₃×OⁱPr₂ co-initiated cationic polymerization of C₄ mixed feed proceeds at a lower rate than polymerization of isobutylene affording polymers with higher molecular weight. Complexes of ⁱBuAlCl₂ with diisopropyl ether of different compositions are more suitable co-initiators than AlCl₃×OⁱPr₂ for the synthesis of highly reactive polyisobutylene (HR PIB) from C₄ mixed feed due to their higher activity in the polymerization as well as possibility to prepare polyisobutylenes with lower molecular weight and higher content of exo-olefin end groups. However, ⁱBuAlCl₂ needs activating via addition of external water (initiator) and/or interaction with salts hydrates in order to increase the reaction rate and the saturated monomer conversion. [Emim]Cl-FeCl₃/ⁱPr₂O is a quite promising catalyst for the preparation of HR PIB with high exo-olefin end group content (> 80%) and relatively low polydispersity (M_w/M_n < 2.8) via cationic polymerization of C₄ mixed feed. The sonication of reaction mixture in case of using [emim]Cl-FeCl₃ allowed increasing the reaction rate and decreasing the molecular weight.

An alternative cationic polymerization method is developed to produce high molecular weight polyisobutylene (HM-PIB) with molecular weights above 5 × 10⁵ g/mol. The method involves micelle formation via functionalized low molecular weight polyisobutylene (LM-PIB) in non-polar solvent. One end of LM-PIB is modified with an imidazolium-containing ionic group, which together with the anion (e.g. Al₂Cl₇) works as Lewis acid. While the monomer isobutylene dissolves readily in non-polar solvent, polymerization can occur only within the micelle, which affords stable HM-PIB particles. HM-PIB with a molecular weight (MW) close to 1 × 10⁶ g/mol was produced successfully with the described method.

In this work, we investigated the effect of hydrophobic interactions between the polymeric backbone and chain-end groups on the self-assembly pathway of stearoyl appended side-chain valine (Val)-based poly(methacrylate/acrylate) homopolymers in different organic hydrocarbons. Gelation studies conducted revealed that while polymers with polyacrylate as backbone induces gelation in several organic hydrocarbons, polymers with polymethacrylate in the main-chain significantly hinders macroscopic gelation. Morphology of the organogels was analysed by field emission scanning electron microscopy (FESEM), and mechanical strengths of the organogels were determined by rheological measurements. Reversible addition-fragmentation chain transfer (RAFT) polymerization chain transfer agents (CTA)s, [R₁―S―C＝(S)―S―R₂] with different ―R₁ and ―R₂ groups, have been employed to study the effect of structural variation at the chain-end on macroscopic assembly mechanism. We found that the additional interactions between terminal groups via hydrogen-bonding or π-π stacking interactions or both help to build up the self-assembly pathway and thereby produces mechanically stable organogels.

The monomer-activated anionic ring-opening copolymerization (AROP) of ethylene oxide (EO) and epichlorohydrin (ECH) using tetraoctylammonium bromide as an initiator and triisobutylaluminum (i-Bu₃Al) as an activator was studied. The properties of the copolymers as well as the microstructure have been analyzed in detail via an in situ NMR kinetics study. The statistical copolymers exhibited molecular weights ranging from 2350 g·mol^–1 to 38000 g·mol^–1 (measured by SEC, PEG-standards) and moderate dispersities of 1.27–1.44. The thermal property tests revealed both a glass transition and melting for all copolymers, supporting a block-like nature. Applying in situ NMR kinetic measurements, the reactivity ratios of EO and ECH were determined to be strongly disparate, i.e., r_EO = 9.2 and r_ECH = 0.10. This shows that the simple one-pot statistical anionic copolymerization of EO and ECH via the monomer-activated AROP resulted in the formation of strongly tapered, block-like structures. Furthermore, post-polymerization functionalization of the reactive chloromethyl groups by nucleophilic displacement was investigated for the copolymers. Copolymerization of EO and ECH offers a broad platform for further functionalization and therefore the possibility to prepare a variety of multifunctional PEGs.

The random copolymers of isobutylene (IB) with polar comonomers of 4-acetoxystyrene (ACS) or 4-tert-butoxystyrene (TBO), P(IB-co-ACS) and P(IB-co-TBO), could be successfully synthesized via cationic copolymerization with FeCl₃-based initiating system. The kinetics of the cationic copolymerization process was in situ investigated by inserting a diamond probe into the reaction system by ATR-FTIR spectroscopy. The chemical structure and incorporation content of polar comonomers in the copolymers were characterized by GPC with RI/UV dual detectors and ¹H-NMR spectroscopy. The corresponding functionalized random copolymers of IB with vinyl phenol P(IB-co-POH) carrying phenolic hydroxyl side groups could be further prepared via the complete hydrolysis of acetoxyl side groups in P(IB-co-ACS) or tert-butoxyl side groups in P(IB-co-TBO) copolymers. The functionalized P(IB-co-POH) copolymers became hydrophilic with water contact angle (WCA) of ca. 80° for the self-assembly in hot water, compared to the hydrophobic polyisobutylene with WCA of ca. 110°. The functionalized P(IB-co-POH) copolymers also displayed an excellent self-healing property due to the interaction of intermolecular hydrogen bonding and formation of three dimentional supramolecular networks from phenolic hydroxyl side groups. Furthermore, P(IB-co-POH) copolymers also provided a good matrix for the homogeneous dispersion for silica nanoparticles due to the formation of hydrogen bonding between copolymer chains and silica nanoparticles.

A novel synthetic strategy towards pH-responsive aggregation-induced emission (AIE)-active tetraphenylethene (TPE)-functionalized polyethylene-based block copolymers is presented. Tris(3-(4-(1,2,2-triphenylvinyl)phenoxy)propyl)borane was used to initiate the polyhomologation of dimethylsulfoxonium methylide to afford well-defined α-TPE-ω-OH linear polyethylenes (PE). The terminal hydroxyl groups were transformed to atom transfer radical polymerization (ATRP) initiating sites by esterification with α-bromoisobutyryl bromide, followed by polymerization of tert-butyl acrylate (tBA) to provide TPE-PE-b-PtBA block copolymers. After hydrolysis of the tBu group to COOH group, the corresponding pH-responsive TPE-PE-b-PAA block copolymers were obtained. All synthesized block copolymers revealed AIE behavior either in solution or bulk. Due to the pH-responsivity of PAA chains, the aggregation state at different pH and consequently the fluorescence intensity changed. Also, the synthesized block copolymers exhibited ion-specificity fluorescence properties.

The low-activity cationic monomer tert-butyl-dimethyl-(4-methyl-pent-4-enyloxy)-silane was synthesized by Grignard reaction and hydroxyl-protection reaction. Living polyisobutylene chains were initially synthesized by controlled cationic polymerization and then capped with tert-butyl-dimethyl-(4-methyl-pent-4-enyloxy)-silane. The hydrolysis of these polyisobutylenes end capped with tert-butyl-dimethyl-(4-methyl-pent-4-enyloxy)-silane gave rise to hydroxytelechelic polyisobutylene. NMR analysis confirmed that the hydrolysis was complete. Results also showed that a low polymerization temperature favored the participation of tert-butyl-dimethyl-(4-methyl-pent-4-enyloxy)-silane in the end-capping reaction. Moreover, polyisobutylene-based polyurethane exhibited greater acid resistance than commercial polyurethane.