CAS Key Laboratory of Soft Matter Chemistry, Department of Polymer Science and Engineering, University of Science and Technology of China, Hefei, Anhui, 230026, China.
Hefei National Research Center for Physical Sciences at the Microscale, University of Science and Technology of China, Hefei, Anhui, 230026, China.
Angew Chem Int Ed Engl. 2023 Apr 3;62(15):e202216685. doi: 10.1002/anie.202216685. Epub 2023 Mar 2.
Multiblock copolymers are envisioned as promising materials with enhanced properties and functionality compared with their diblock/triblock counterparts. However, the current approaches can construct multiblock copolymers with a limited number of blocks but tedious procedures. Here, we report a thioester-relayed in-chain cascade copolymerization strategy for the easy preparation of multiblock copolymers with on-demand blocks, in which thioester groups with on-demand numbers are built in the polymer backbone by controlled/living polymerizations. These thioester groups further serve as the in-chain initiating centers to trigger the acyl group transfer ring-opening polymerization of episulfides independently and concurrently to extend the polymer backbone into multiblock structures. The compositions, number of blocks, and block degree of polymerization can be easily regulated. This strategy can offer easy access to a library of multiblock copolymers with ≈100 blocks in only 2 to 4 steps.
多嵌段共聚物被视为具有增强性能和功能的有前途的材料，与二嵌段/三嵌段共聚物相比。然而，目前的方法只能构建具有有限数量嵌段但繁琐的程序的多嵌段共聚物。在这里，我们报告了一种酯键接力的链内级联共聚策略，用于轻松制备具有按需嵌段的多嵌段共聚物，其中通过可控/活性聚合在聚合物主链中构建了具有按需数量的酯键。这些酯键进一步作为链内引发中心，独立且同时引发环硫醚的酰基转移开环聚合，将聚合物主链扩展成多嵌段结构。组成、嵌段数和嵌段聚合度可以很容易地调节。该策略仅需 2 至 4 步即可轻松获得具有 ≈100 个嵌段的多嵌段共聚物库。
