The Hantzsch Reaction in Polymer Chemistry: From Synthetic Methods to Applications

The Hantzcsh reaction is a robust four-component reaction for the efficient generation of 1,4-dihydropyridine (1,4-DHP) derivatives. Recently, this reaction has been introduced into polymer chemistry in order to develop polymers having 1,4-DHP structures in the main and/or side chains. The 1,4-DHP groups confer new properties/functions to the polymers. This mini-review summarizes the recent studies on the development of new functional polymers by using the Hantzsch reaction. Several synthetic approaches, including polycondensation, post-polymerization modification (PPM), monomer to polymer strategy, and one-pot strategy are introduced; different applications (protein conjugation, formaldehyde detection, drug carrier, and anti-bacterial adhesion) of the resulting polymers are emphasized. Meanwhile, the future development of the Hantzsch reaction in exploring new functional polymers is also discussed.

An Update on Isocyanide-Based Multicomponent Reactions in Polymer Science

Developments and progress in polymer science are often inspired by organic chemistry. In recent years, multicomponent reactions-especially the Passerini and Ugi reactions-have become very important tools for macromolecular design, mainly due to their modular character. In this review, the versatility of the Passerini and Ugi reactions in polymer science is highlighted by discussing recent examples of their use for monomer synthesis, as polymerization techniques, and for postpolymerization modification, as well as their suitability for architecture control, sequence control, and sequence definition.

High-throughput polymer screening in microreactors: boosting the Passerini three component reaction

The Passerini three-component reaction (Passerini-3CR) has been studied via on-line microreactor/electrospray ionisation mass spectrometry (MRT/ESI-MS) reaction monitoring to demonstrate the high-throughput screening potential of microreactors for macromolecular design.