Chemical oxidative polymerization of aniline in dilute aqueous acids using an ammonium peroxydisulfate oxidant proceeds via the intermediacy of large, colorless aggregates that act as ‘seeds’ in orchestrating the overall morphology of the product polyaniline. Observed for the first time by continuously monitoring the polymerization by static and dynamic light-scattering (LS) measurements, these...

Template-directed polymerization of RNA in the absence of enzymes is the basis for an information transfer in the 'RNA-world' hypothesis and in novel nucleic acid based technology. Previous investigations established that only cytidine rich strands are efficient templates in bulk aqueous solutions while a few specific sequences completely block the extension of hybridized primers. We show that ...

Despite all the technical and economic problems and the public discussions on the environmental dangers and hazards of chlorine chemistry, poly(vinyl chloride) (PVC) is the second most produced plastic (with a worldwide capacity of about 31 million tons), placing after polyolefins and before styrene polymers. Presently, PVC production worldwide is growing at a rate of more than 4% per year. The...

A unique design paradigm to form core-shell particles based on interfacial radical polymerization is described. The interfacial initiation system is comprised of an enzymatic reaction between glucose and glucose oxidase (GOx) to generate hydrogen peroxide, which, in the presence of iron (Fe2+), generates hydroxyl radicals that initiate polymerization. Shell formation on prefabricated polymeric ...