New Smart Materials via Metal Mediated Macromolecular Engineering

Control over macromolecular architecture and resulting material properties has been a central goal of polymer chemistry. There has been much interest in developing new synthetic routes to prepare smart materials with novel compositions and topologies for various applications. The considerable progress in the metal mediated macromolecular engineering over the past decade has had a major impact on the development of well-defined macromolecular architectures and the synthesis of smart materials. Particularly, remarkable strong developments have been observed for the synthesis of smart materials via four metal mediated macromolecular engineering techniques; Anionic, ROMP, ATRP and Click Chemistry. These materials have found uses in advanced microelectronics, technical and biomedical applications as well as in chemical sensors applications. This book is comprised of 27 chapters written by leading scientists from NATO and Partner Countries who have greatly contributed in the area of Anionic, ROMP, ATRP and Click Chemistry. It highlights the fundamental aspects and recent developments of these four powerful techniques and evaluate their potential in the syntheses of smart materials from complex structures (grafts, brushes, dendrimers, etc.) to nanostructures (self-assembly, nano-size, etc) for a wide range of applications. The book reports on the synthesis of a wide range of well-defined complex polymeric systems such as thermoresponsive smart polymers, star copolymers, biocompatible polymers, amphipilic smart nano structured, conducting polymers, self assembled polymers, and hyperbranced polymers.