A novel hyperbranched polymer gelator has been synthesized, which can self-assemble into the thermoreversible physical gel in DMF, DMAC, pyridine, DMSO or NMP with the driving force of hydrogen bonds among amide and amine groups of the highly branched macromolecules.

Lightly branched, hyperbranched and cross-linked polymers with clickable sites were synthesized via a modified version of self-condensing photoinitiated copolymerization of methyl acrylate (MA) with propargyl acrylate (PA). The method is based on the use of a PA monomer containing two polymerizable groups, namely acrylate and propargyl groups with different reactivities in photoinitiated free r...

A new polymer acid catalyst, sulfonated hyperbranched poly(arylene oxindole), 5-OH-SHPAO, was prepared for selective cellulose hydrolysis. Its superior catalysis, showing high glucose selectivity at almost full cellulose conversion, is attributed to the presence of an hydroxyl group next to the sulfonic acid, therefore mimicking the separate acid-base pair in the cellulase active site.

Here we demonstrate a simple and straightforward approach to prepare POSS-embedded hyperbranched (HB-POSS) polymers with customized molecular weights and sizes just by controlling the polymerization time. The polymers can be further used for building amphiphilic polymers, presenting morphological transition from micelle to vesicle in aqueous solution.

Starch graft copolymers are expected to become increasingly important as industrial and consumer chemicals in a large variety of end uses. Therefore, a quick and accurate analytical characterization of the graft copolymer is desirable. Vinyl side chains from starch-vinyl graft copolymers have preViously been isolated by several methods. Brockway (1) hydrolyzed the starch moiety with 1 N HCl at ...

Nanotechnology is the field which deals with fabrication of materials with dimensions in the nanometer range by manipulating atoms and molecules. Various synthesis routes exist for the one, two and three dimensional nanostructures. Recent advancements in nanotechnology have enabled the usage of block copolymers for the synthesis of such nanostructures. Block copolymers are versatile polymers wi...

A series of triblock protein copolymers composed of a central water-soluble polyelectrolyte segment flanked by two coiled-coil domains was synthesized by genetic engineering methods. The copolymers self-assembled into reversible hydrogels in response to changes in temperature, pH, and the presence or absence of denaturating agent (guanidine hydrochloride, GdnHCl). Hydrogel formation was concent...

Polyethylenimine (PEI), one of the most frequently used polycations for non-viral nucleic acid delivery, exhibits good transfection efficiency to cultured cells but generally has to be used in restricted concentration ranges due to high cytotoxicity. We recently reported a family of HPMA-co-oligolysine brush copolymers that show nucleic acid delivery efficiencies approaching that of PEI. Guanid...