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Polymer synthesis

To react the impossible ring

Nature Chemistry volume 8, pages 3–4 (2016)Cite this article

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γ-Butyrolactone is a biomass-derived cyclic ester that is commonly thought to be non-polymerizable. Now, exploiting the thermodynamics of polymer formation and careful control of the reaction conditions has made this possible leading to high-molecular-weight products and control of polymer topology.

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Figure 1: Ring-opening polymerization of five-membered cyclic monomers.

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Authors and Affiliations

  1. Anish Cyriac and Charlotte K. Williams are in the Department of Chemistry, Dominic Myers, Imperial College London, London SW7 2AZ, UK,

    Dominic Myers, Anish Cyriac & Charlotte K. Williams

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  1. Dominic Myers
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  2. Anish Cyriac
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  3. Charlotte K. Williams
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Correspondence to Charlotte K. Williams.

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Myers, D., Cyriac, A. & Williams, C. To react the impossible ring. Nature Chem 8, 3–4 (2016). https://doi.org/10.1038/nchem.2424

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