Simultaneous Bulk-and Surface-initiated Living Polymerization Studied with a Heterogeneous Stochastic Reaction Model

To better characterize the properties of surface-initiated polymers, simultaneous bulk-and surface-initiated polymerizations are usually carried out by assuming that the properties of the surface-initiated polymers resemble those of the bulk-initiated polymers. Through a Monte Carlo simulation using a heterogeneous stochastic reaction model, it was discovered that the bulk-initiated polymers exhibit a higher molecular weight and a lower dispersity than the corresponding surface-initiated polymers, which indicates that the equivalent assumption is invalid. Furthermore, the molecular weight distributions of the two types of polymers are also different, suggesting different polymerization mechanisms. The results can be simply explained by the heterogeneous distributions of reactants in the system. This study is helpful to better understand surface-initiated polymerization.

Accelerated heterogenous ring-opening polymerization towards well-defined helical poly(N-allyl alanine)with clickable side chains

Well-defined poly(N-allyl alanine)has been synthesized by heterogenous ring-opening polymerization(HROP)of less reactive N-allyl-alanine N-carboxyanhydride,using acetic acid as the catalyst and benzylamine as the initiator,in non-polar n-hexane.Interestingly,the polymerization exhibited typical features of living polymerization though both monomer(liquid)and polymer(solid)have minimal solubility in n-hexane.The obtained polymer showed a stable helix structure independent of the temperatures screened,as evidenced by circular dichroism analysis.Also,the preliminary study demonstrated that the side chains can be post-functionalized through thiol-ene click chemistry with quantitative conversion.Together,this work provides guidance for the development of accelerated HROP of other liquid monomers bearing low reactivity.Besides,the helical and functionalizable poly(N-allyl alanine)could be a useful“clickable platform”for the design of variable biomaterials via efficient click chemistry.