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Has Click Chemistry Lead to a Paradigm Shift in Polymer Material Design?
Author(s) -
BarnerKowollik Christopher,
Inglis Andrew J.
Publication year - 2009
Publication title -
macromolecular chemistry and physics
Language(s) - English
Resource type - Journals
SCImago Journal Rank - 0.57
H-Index - 112
eISSN - 1521-3935
pISSN - 1022-1352
DOI - 10.1002/macp.200900139
Subject(s) - click chemistry , modular design , lead (geology) , polymer science , polymer , chemistry , paradigm shift , nanotechnology , synthetic polymer , computer science , materials science , combinatorial chemistry , organic chemistry , epistemology , philosophy , programming language , geomorphology , geology
Has the introduction of the click chemistry concept by Sharpless and colleagues in 2001 lead to a paradigm shift in how we approach the design of macromolecular materials; or is it simply a relatively inconsequential re‐branding exercise of already existing and slightly optimized but well‐tried and tested reactions as some critics would have it? The current Trend Article analyses the situation by examining a series of select macromolecular research fields to shed light on this question, providing an unambiguous answer: The focusing of polymer chemists through the click concept on what constitutes a powerful modular chemical transformation to generate a specific polymeric material is a defining element in contemporary synthetic polymer chemistry, transcending a specific reaction. Without the introduction of the click philosophy several classes of innovative materials and polymer designs would not have been realized.