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Cover Picture: Hydrophobic Monomers Recognize Microenvironments in Hydrogel Microspheres during Free‐Radical‐Seeded Emulsion Polymerization (Angew. Chem. Int. Ed. 23/2020)
Author(s) -
Watanabe Takumi,
Nishizawa Yuichiro,
Minato Haruka,
Song Chihong,
Murata Kazuyoshi,
Suzuki Daisuke
Publication year - 2020
Publication title -
angewandte chemie international edition
Language(s) - English
Resource type - Reports
SCImago Journal Rank - 5.831
H-Index - 550
eISSN - 1521-3773
pISSN - 1433-7851
DOI - 10.1002/anie.202005702
Subject(s) - emulsion polymerization , polymerization , monomer , radical polymerization , nanocomposite , polymer chemistry , materials science , copolymer , chemical engineering , styrene , chemistry , nanotechnology , polymer , organic chemistry , engineering
Cryo‐electron micrography was used to precisely determine the three‐dimensional structure of nanocomposite microgels and to provide insight into the interactions between small hydrophobic molecules and the microgels. As explained by K. Murata, D. Suzuki et al. in their Communication on page 8849, styrene monomers recognize molecular‐scale differences in polarity within the microgels during emulsion polymerization. This discovery enabled the synthesis of multilayer nanocomposite microgels in one step by free‐radical‐seeded emulsion polymerization.