Patrick Theato: "From Reactive to Stimuli-Responsive Polymers: Precision Synthesis of Multi-Stimuli-Reponsive Polymers"

Patrick Theato
Institute for Technical and Macromolecular Chemistry University of Hamburg, Germany

From Reactive to Stimuli-Responsive Polymers: Precision Synthesis of Multi-Stimuli-Reponsive Polymers

Designing a polymer usually involves the incorporation of multiple functional units into a polymer chain. By combining various functional units, a myriad of polymer properties can be fine-tuned. As an example, stimuli-responsive polymers are investigated, which are synthesized from defined reactive pre-polymers. This route enables us to incorporate multiple functionalities, which render the obtained polymer responsive to multiple stimuli. Stimuli of interest are: temperature, light and redox. Further, thermo- and light-responsive polymers containing photoswitchable azobenzene end groups in solution are presented. Via a post-modification of the telechelic reactive end groups it was possible to obtain P(OEGMA) polymers containing azobenzene end groups that showed a reversible light- and temperature-controlled phase transition in water.