Catalyst-free, aza-Michael polymerization of hydrazides: polymerizability, kinetics, and mechanistic origin of an α-effect

Poly(ether)s derived from oxa-Michael polymerization: a comprehensive review

Poly(ether)s represent an important class of polymers and are typically formed by ring-opening polymerization, Williamson ether synthesis, or self-condensation of alcohols. The oxa-Michael reaction presents another method to form poly(ether)s with additional functional groups in the polymer backbone starting from di- or triols and electron deficient olefins such as acrylates, sulfones, or acrylamides. However, research on oxa-Michael polymerization is still limited. Herein, we outline the principles of the oxa-Michael polymerization and focus on the synthesis and preparation of poly(ether-sulfone)s, poly(ether-ester)s, poly(ether)s, and poly(ether-amide)s. Further, challenges as well as future perspectives of the oxa-Michael polymerization are discussed.

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Hydrolytically degradable Poly (β-amino ester) resins with tunable degradation for 3D printing by projection micro-stereolithography

Applications of 3D printing that range from temporary medical devices to environmentally responsible manufacturing would benefit from printable resins that yield polymers with controllable material properties and degradation behavior. Towards this goal, poly(β-amino ester) (PBAE)-diacrylate resins were investigated due to the wide range of available chemistries and tunable material properties. PBAE-diacrylate resins were synthesized from hydrophilic and hydrophobic chemistries and with varying electron densities on the ester bond to provide control over degradation. Hydrophilic PBAE-diacrylates led to degradation behaviors characteristic of bulk degradation while hydrophobic PBAE-diacrylates led to degradation behaviors dominated initially by surface degradation and then transitioned to bulk degradation. Depending on chemistry, the crosslinked PBAE-polymers exhibited a range of degradation times under accelerated conditions, from complete mass loss in 90 min to minimal mass loss at 45 days. Patterned features with 55 μm resolution were achieved across all resins, but their fidelity was dependent on PBAE-diacrylate molecular weight, reactivity, and printing parameters. In summary, simple chemical modifications in the PBAE-diacrylate resins coupled with projection microstereolithography enables high resolution 3D printed parts with similar architectures and initial properties, but widely different degradation rates and behaviors.

Sequence-Controlled Synthesis of Advanced Clickable Synthetic Oligonucleotides

Through thiol-ene photopolymerization of presynthesized oligomers, advanced clickable nucleic acids (CNA-2G) are synthesized with sequence-controlled repeating units. As examples, poly(thymine-adenine) (polyTA) CNA-2G and poly(thymine-thymine-cytosine) CNA-2G are synthesized by polymerizing thiol-ene heterofunctional dimers with pendant thymine-adenine nucleobases and trimer with pendant thymine-thymine-cytosine nucleobases. Based on size exclusion chromatography (SEC) analysis, polyTA and polyTTC have number average molecular weights of 2000 and 1800, respectively, which contain 7-8 pendant nucleobases. Based on the different behavior of the CNA-2G monomers and CNA-2G oligomers with two or more pendant nucleobases in photopolymerization, an unusual thiol-ene chain-growth propagation mechanism is observed for the former and a common thiol-ene step-growth propagation mechanism for the latter. The uncommon thiol-ene chain-growth propagation is hypothesized to rely on a six-membered ring mediated intramolecular hydrogen atom transfer process.

Mild polyaddition and polyalkylation based on the carbon-carbon bond formation reaction of active methylene

The Michael addition and alkylation reaction of active methylene compounds (AMCs) with two active hydrogens had been investigated extensively in organic chemistry, while the polymerization of AMCs had few studies. Herein, we reported active methylene-based polyaddition and polyalkylation catalyzed via an organic superbase under ambient conditions. A model polymerization was first conducted between ethylene glycol diacrylate (EGDA) and methyl cyanoacetate (MCA). The molecular weight (M w) of the model polymer was up to 50 500 g mol-1 with a high yield (99%). Eight AMCs were selected and a high-throughput parallel synthesizing instrument (HTPSI) was used to synthesize semi-library polymers of AMCs and EGDA via a Michael type polyaddition. The obtained AMC-based polymers had low cell cytotoxicity. Elastomers with cyanogen groups could be prepared using trimethylolpropane triacrylate (TMPTA) as a crosslinker. Furthermore, three dihalogen compounds were explored to polymerize with MCA and malononitrile via alkylation reactions. The pendent cyanogen or ester groups of the polymers could be reduced by lithium aluminum hydride. Novel polymer families were constructed based on the polyaddition and polyalkylation of AMCs.