We present a simple and generic theoretical description of actinbased motility, where polymerization of filaments maintains propulsion. The dynamics is driven by polymerization kinetics at the filaments’ free ends, crosslinking of the actin network, attachment and detachment of filaments to the obstacle interface and entropic forces. We show that spontaneous oscillations in the velocity emerge ...

Sulfonylaziridines have been identified as excellent monomers for living ring-opening polymerization initiated by nucleophilic sulfonylamides. The resulting polymers exhibit low polydispersities and controllable molecular weights. The enantiopurity of the monomer plays a key role: racemic samples yield soluble polymers of target molecular weights, while enantiopure samples produce insoluble pol...

This study explored the kinetics of ultraviolet (UV) laser photoinitiated polymerization in thick polymer systems to achieve improved polymerization efficiency and uniformity. The modeling system comprised an incident UV laser and its reflecting beam, which was focused by a concave mirror to compensate for the exponential decay in the absorbing medium. The polymerization kinetic equation was nu...

Self-immolative linkers offer efficient mechanisms for deprotecting ‘caged’ functional groups in response to specific stimuli. Herein we describe a convenient ‘click’ chemistry method introducing pendant self-immolative polymer backbone through post-polymerization modification. The introduced triazole rings serve both anchor the stimuli-cleavable trigger backbone, while also forming part of sel...