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Mechanochemical Reactivity of Bottlebrush and Dendronized Polymers: Solid vs. Solution States
Author(s) -
Noh Jinkyung,
Peterson Gregory I.,
Choi TaeLim
Publication year - 2021
Publication title -
angewandte chemie international edition
Language(s) - English
Resource type - Journals
SCImago Journal Rank - 5.831
H-Index - 550
eISSN - 1521-3773
pISSN - 1433-7851
DOI - 10.1002/anie.202104447
Subject(s) - polymer , bond cleavage , mechanochemistry , reactivity (psychology) , materials science , polymer architecture , chain scission , grinding , polymer chemistry , chemical engineering , solid state , chemistry , organic chemistry , composite material , catalysis , nanotechnology , medicine , alternative medicine , pathology , engineering
Abstract We explored the mechanochemical degradation of bottlebrush and dendronized polymers in solution (with ultrasonication, US) and solid states (with ball‐mill grinding, BMG). Over 50 polymers were prepared with varying backbone length and arm architecture, composition, and size. With US, we found that bottlebrush and dendronized polymers exhibited consistent backbone scission behavior, which was related to their elongated conformations in solution. Considerably different behavior was observed with BMG, as arm architecture and composition had a significant impact on backbone scission rates. Arm scission was also observed for bottlebrush polymers in both solution and solid states, but only in the solid state for dendronized polymers. Motivated by these results, multi‐mechanophore polymers with bottlebrush and dendronized polymer architectures were prepared and their reactivity was compared. Although dendronized polymers showed slower arm‐scission, the selectivity for mechanophore activation was much higher. Overall, these results have important implications to the development of new mechanoresponsive materials.