DYNAMERS: POLYMERIC MATERIALS EXHIBITING REVERSIBLE FORMATION AND COMPONENT EXCHANGE

摘要

Alternating co-polymers involving the polycondensation of dihydrazides or diamines with dialdehydes reversibly exchange either one or both of their fundamental repeating monomer units in the presence of different monomer units. Furthermore, upon exchange of one of the repeating monomer units, the original monomer unit displaced can be re-introduced into the polymer, or the remaining unexchanged original monomer unit may also be interchanged. The polymers subjected to monomer exchange/interchange exhibit vastly different physical properties than those of the original unexchanged polymer. These dynamic, reversible polymers are therefore able to incorporate, decorporate or reshuffle their constituting monomers, in particular, with respect to environmental physical or chemical factors (heat, light, chemical entities, etc.). They thus have combinatorial features and represent adaptive materials.