Controlling Polymer Molecular Weight Distribution through a Latent Mediator Strategy with Temporal Programming
Miao Chen1, Jiajia Li*,1（李佳佳）, Kaiqi Ma2,Guoqin Jin2, Xiangqiang Pan1, Zhengbiao Zhang1, and Jian Zhu*,1（朱健）
1 State and Local Joint Engineering Laboratory for Novel Functional Polymeric Materials, Jiangsu Key Laboratory of Advanced Functional Polymer Design and Application, Department of Polymer Science and Engineering, College of Chemistry, Chemical Engineering and Materials Science, Soochow University,Suzhou 215123 (China)
2 School of Mechanical and Electric Engineering, Soochow University
Suzhou 215006 (China)
Angew. Chem. Int. Ed. 2021, 60, 19705--19709
Polymer molecular weight distribution (MWD) is a key parameter of polymers. Here we present a robust method for controlling polymer MWD in controlled cationic polymerizations. A latent mediator strategy was designed and combined with temporal programming to regenerate mediators at different times during polymerization. Both the breadths and shapes of MWD curves were tuned easily by adjusting an external light source. Bimodal, trimodal, and tetramodal distributions were obtained, and the breadths could be varied from 1.06 to 2.09. Polymers with different MWDs prepared by this method had good chain end fidelity, which was demonstrated with successful chain-extension experiments. In addition, the introduction of temporal programming with a computer-controlled single chip for the light source opened an avenue for the use of artificial intelligence in polymer synthesis.
链接：//onlinelibrary.wiley.com/doi/10.1002/anie.202107106
