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Volume 50 Issue 1, January 2018

Editorial

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Review

  • In this review, we summarize the use of Diels–Alder reaction in the synthesis of arylene-based polymers, including polyphenylenes and ladder polymers, as well as graphene nanoribbons. These polymer materials are structurally related to each other, but rarely discussed all together in a same context. The importance and versatility of the Diels–Alder polymerization is highlighted for the synthesis of such polymers with various potential applications, for example, as polymer electrolyte membrane and organic semiconductors.

    • Ian Cheng-Yi Hou
    • Yunbin Hu
    • Klaus Müllen
    Review
  • Incorporating additional electron donors or acceptors into conjugated D–A alternating polymers result in various conjugated D–A terpolymers. The presence of additional electron donors or acceptors can modulate their electronic absorptions, highest occupied molecular orbital/lowest unoccupied molecular orbital levels as well as interchain interactions and thin-film morphologies. Because of these structural features, conjugated D–A terpolymers have been intensively investigated for applications in field-effect transistors and photovoltaic cells. In this review, we introduce recent developments of conjugated D–A terpolymers with various combinations of electron donors and acceptors, and discuss the future perspectives of them.

    • Hewei Luo
    • Zitong Liu
    • Deqing Zhang

    Collection:

    Review
  • Antimicrobial cationic polymers mainly contain two functional components: the cationic groups and the hydrophobic groups. The antimicrobial activity is influenced by the type, amount, location and distribution of these two components. This review summarizes the structural designs of antimicrobial cationic polymers from primary to secondary structures, from covalent to noncovalent syntheses and from bulk to surface. It will provide some guidelines for developing molecular engineering of antimicrobial cationic polymers with tailor-made structures and functions.

    • Yuchong Yang
    • Zhengguo Cai
    • Xi Zhang
    Review
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Focus Review

  • A focused review of photoresist strategies that have been studied over the past few decades driven by the demands of Moore’s law. Selected results are discussed with emphasis on the choice of photoresist chemistry depending on the particulars of each radiation type or patterning strategy, while we present special architectures of photoresists that have attracted a great interest in the semiconductor field.

    • Hong Xu
    • Vasiliki Kosma
    • Christopher K Ober

    Collection:

    Focus Review
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Review

  • Thermally stable and photosensitive polymers have been widely developed in recent years for their applications in the electronic packaging such as buffer coating, passivation layers, and insulation layers for redistribution in microelectronics due to their excellent thermal and reasonable dielectric properties. This review describes the recent progress of TSPSPs in the last decade and focuses on their design concept. After a brief introduction of the basic patterning procedure, various chemistries on the design of TSPSPs are highlighted along with two major patterning methodologies such as positive- and negative-working polymers. Furthermore, new applications of TSPSPs, such as low dielectric materials, high refractive index lenses, resists for ITO patterning, and π-conjugated polymers for organic-field effect transistors, are also introduced.

    • Mao-Chun Fu
    • Tomoya Higashihara
    • Mitsuru Ueda
    Review
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Focus Review

  • Organic polymers for hydrogen storage and their molecular design were reviewed. Porous organic polymers reversibly stored and released hydrogen through hydrogen physisorption on their highly porous structures. Polymers containing ketone or N-heterocycle groups fixed and stored hydrogen under atmospheric pressure through the formation of chemical bonds: the hydrogenated polymers released hydrogen in the presence of catalysts at mild conditions. The advantages of the polymers enable easy handling and provide portable hydrogen-carrying materials for use in, for example, a home/on-site or pocketable hydrogen-supply system.

    • Ryo Kato
    • Hiroyuki Nishide

    Collection:

    Focus Review
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Review

  • The development of reversible-deactivation radical polymerization (RDRP) has made a great contribution not only to control of molecular weight and terminal structures but also to precise syntheses of copolymers. In particular, introducing a new concept into RDRP allows ‘sequence control’, which might lead to construction of ‘alphabet polymer’ bearing well-defined sequence like peptides in nature. Herein, some methodologies to realize sequence control based on RDRP are reviewed.

    • Makoto Ouchi
    • Mitsuo Sawamoto
    Review
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Focus Review

  • This review focuses on the physicochemical characterization of polyion complex (PIC) micelles, particularly addressing the critical molecular factors to determine the self-assembly scheme of double-hydrophilic block copolymers composed of charged and non-charged segments into micelle structures. The process of PIC micelle formation provides new insights on the block copolymer self-assembly in thermodynamically equilibrium condition in aqueous medium, such as chain length recognition and transition from uPIC, which is the PIC of smallest neutralizing unit, to PIC micelle structures.

    • Atsushi Harada
    • Kazunori Kataoka
    Focus Review
  • Direct surface modification of polymer fibers and films by surface-initiated polymerizations has been investigated. The introduction of initiating sites on the polymer materials and successive polymerization produce surface-tethered polymer chains on the polymer surface. The surface-selective modification controls the surface properties such as wetting, lubrication and anti-fouling without sacrificing the bulk performances. Researches on grafting polymer chains to five types of polymers, poly(methyl methacrylate)-based copolymer, Br-containing polyolefins, poly(butylene terephthalate), poly(vinylidene fluoride-co-trifluoroethylene) and poly(ether-ether ketone) are reviewed.

    • Yuji Higaki
    • Motoyasu Kobayashi
    • Atsushi Takahara
    Focus Review
  • We review our recent studies on material designs based on element-blocks, which are defined as a minimum functional unit composed of heteroatoms, and particularly focus on the roles of element-blocks in these materials. To start, the development of ‘designable hybrids’ by employing polyhedral oligomeric silsesquioxane is illustrated. The following topics include solid-state luminescent materials containing o-carborane and group 13 element-blocks. Their highly efficient emission in the solid state and their photochemistry are explained. Furthermore, we mention chiral element-blocks containing optically active phosphine atoms. The unique properties of this series of element-block materials are illustrated.

    • Masayuki Gon
    • Kazuo Tanaka
    • Yoshiki Chujo

    Collection:

    Focus Review
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Review

  • Synthesis and dynamic nature of macromolecular systems having mechanically linked polymer chains, which can undertake the topology transformation, are described. The rotaxane linking of polymer chains plays a crucial role in these systems. Successful syntheses of macromolecular [2]rotaxane (M2R) possessing single polymer axle and one crown ether wheel made possible the development of topology-transformable polymers from star to linear. Furthermore, rotaxane-linked ABC triblock copolymer and 4-arm and 6-arm star polymers were also synthesized and transformed to other topological polymers along with the property change.

    • Toshikazu Takata
    • Daisuke Aoki
    Review
  • The design and functions of various liquid-crystalline (LC) polymers including main-chain, side-chain and network LC polymers as well as dendritic structures are described. These polymeric LC materials can be applied for electro-, ion-, photo-active materials as well as mechanically tough materials. The introduction of supramolecular design has also generated a new category of functional LC materials.

    • Takashi Kato
    • Junya Uchida
    • Bartolome Soberats
    Review
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