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| Version | Summary | Created by | Modification | Content Size | Created at | Operation |
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| 1 | Helena Kang | -- | 215 | 2026-09-23 09:19:23 |
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Polymer synthesis is the chemical construction of macromolecules by covalent linking of monomers through chain-growth or step-growth mechanisms, so that the product is a molecule whose degree of polymerization substantially exceeds that of an oligomer [1][2]. In the synthesis and properties of polymers the concept is bounded by the formation of the macromolecular chain itself, as distinct from the subsequent processing or blending of an already formed polymer. Essential features are a monomer (or monomer pair) capable of repeated bond formation, a mechanism that propagates or condenses that bond, and a resulting distribution of chain lengths and architectures (linear, branched, cyclic, or network). Chain-growth routes include conventional and reversible-deactivation radical polymerizations, among them nitroxide-mediated and transition-metal-catalyzed living radical processes that maintain a dormant–active equilibrium at the chain end [1][3]. Complementary toolkits such as thiol-click reactions and photocatalytic initiation provide additional elementary steps for connecting monomers or for starting chain growth under light [2][4]. The concept is distinguished from polymer modification, in which an existing backbone is functionalized without a new polymerization, and from supramolecular polymerization, in which the repeat connection is noncovalent. Conceptual limits exclude biological ribosomal protein synthesis when the object of definition is a synthetic polymer-forming reaction.
References
- Craig J. Hawker; Anton W. Bosman; Eva Harth; New Polymer Synthesis by Nitroxide Mediated Living Radical Polymerizations. Chem. Rev. 2001, 101, 3661-3688. [CrossRef]
- Charles E. Hoyle; Andrew B. Lowe; Christopher N. Bowman; Thiol-click chemistry: a multifaceted toolbox for small molecule and polymer synthesis. Chem. Soc. Rev. 2010, 39, 1355-1387. [CrossRef]
- Makoto Ouchi; Takaya Terashima; Mitsuo Sawamoto; Transition Metal-Catalyzed Living Radical Polymerization: Toward Perfection in Catalysis and Precision Polymer Synthesis. Chem. Rev. 2009, 109, 4963-5050. [CrossRef]
- Nathaniel Corrigan; Sivaprakash Shanmugam; Jiangtao Xu; Cyrille Boyer; Photocatalysis in organic and polymer synthesis. Chem. Soc. Rev. 2016, 45, 6165-6212. [CrossRef]
