A Quantum Mechanical Study on the Propagation Kinetics ofN-methylacrylamide: Comparison WithN,N-Dimethylacrylamide in Free Radical Polymerization

Screening of a glycopolymer library for GM1 mimetics synthesized by the "carbohydrate module method"

The "carbohydrate module method" is a promising approach for oligosaccharide mimetics using polymeric materials. However, it is difficult to predict the optimal structure for a particular oligosaccharide mimetic, and an efficient strategy for the synthesis and evaluation of glycopolymers is desirable. In this study, a screening of glycopolymers for the "carbohydrate module method" by a combination of photoinduced electron/energy transfer-reversible addition-fragmentation chain-transfer (PET-RAFT) polymerization and surface plasmon resonance imaging (SPRI) is demonstrated. The facile and fast screening of synthetic glycomimetics was achieved, and the glycopolymer with the optimal structure as a GM1 mimetic strongly interacted with the cholera toxin B subunit.

DFT Modeling of the Alternating Radical Copolymerization and Alder-Ene Reaction between Maleic Anhydride and Olefins

The free radical copolymerization of electron-acceptor and electron-donor vinyl monomers represents a particular case of sequence-controlled polymerization. The reactions of maleic anhydride (MA) or related compounds (acceptor comonomers) with α-olefins (donor comonomers) result in the formation of the alternating copolymers that have clear prospects for petrochemical and biomedical applications. However, in contrast to the well-established polymerization of acrylate monomers, these processes have not been studied theoretically using the density functional theory (DFT) calculations. In our research, we performed a comprehensive theoretical analysis of the free radical copolymerization of MA and closely related maleimide with different structural types of olefins at mpw1pw91/6-311g(d) level of the DFT. The results of our calculations clearly indicated the preference of the alternating reaction mode for the copolymerization of MA with α-olefins, isobutylene and prospective unsaturated monomers, as well as methylenealkanes. The DFT modeling of the thermally induced Alder-ene reaction between MA and olefins allowed to exclude this reaction from the scope of possible side processes at moderately high temperatures. Comparative analysis of MA and N-methylmaleimide (MMI) reactivity shown that the use of MMI instead of MA makes no sense in terms of the reaction rate and selectivity.