Progress in Polymer Science最新文献

Chitosan holds great promise for demanding applications such as functional packing and biomedical uses. There has been a notable increase in interest in combining chitosan or its derivatives with other polymers and nanofillers to achieve synergistic effects. Remarkable progress has been made through polymer molecular design and iterative nanotechnology in the development of chitosan-based nanocomposite materials tailored for high-performance applications. This review focuses on strategies to develop chitosan-based materials, highlighting the advantages and disadvantages of chitosan modification and critically evaluating various fabrication methods. Following a brief introduction to various nanofillers and their functionalization, this review discusses the functional properties (e.g., mechanical, thermal, water resistance, gas-barrier, stimulus-response, shape memory, biological, electrochemical, corrosion-protection, antifouling, and abruption/desorption) of various chitosan-based nanocomposite systems. It then highlights the emerging and potential applications of chitosan-based nanocomposites in various fields such as functional packaging, biomedicine, 3D bioprinting, sensing and wearable devices, environmental remediation, and chemical engineering. Moreover, we explore the factors that hinder the commercialization of chitosan-based nanocomposites. Our review not only surveys recent advancements in engineering sophisticated functional chitosan-based nanocomposite materials, customized for a diverse array of applications, but also offers insights into the future formulation of multifaceted chitosan-based nanocomposites, poised to tackle the distinct demands and hurdles encountered in burgeoning applications.

Epoxy resins rank among the most significantly used thermosets, showing high thermal and mechanical properties. Unfortunately, current polymerization processes to reach these properties are energy-intensive, characterized by high temperatures and long processing duration. Addressing this problem, recent years have witnessed the emergence of curing methods under mild and ecofriendly conditions, aligning with societal and ecological challenges. Mild conditions were delineated in this review as a polymerization without solvent and at temperatures not exceeding 80 °C. This work highlights three methods, by focusing on research works from 2015 to date: i) polyadditions via step-growth ring opening polymerization, ii) photopolymerization leading to homopolymerization of bio-based monomers and iii) redox polymerization achieved through the release of cations or acidic protons species, initiating the cationic polymerization. In the context of ecofriendly conditions, the replacement of bisphenol-A present in many epoxy monomers is also a huge challenge to keep both good mechanical properties and fast polymerization kinetics. In this context, this review aims at underlining the increasing importance of epoxy curing under mild conditions, in possible combination with bio-based monomers for bisphenol-A replacement and to guide both researchers and industries to explore and develop new curing systems.

Amino acid-based poly(ester urea)s (PEUs) are an emerging class of highly tunable, degradable polymers that have found utility in a wide scope of biomedical applications. PEUs possess three points of tunability at the amino acid side chain, diol length, and copolymer stoichiometric ratio, resulting in a broad range of chemical, thermal and mechanical properties. PEUs are interesting biologically because they degrade into naturally occurring amino acids, urea, oxidized products from the diols, and carbon dioxide, each of which can be metabolized or excreted. The diversity in structure, properties and biodegradation characteristics of PEUs have led to their exploration in a number of pre-clinical applications including hernia repair, adhesives, radiopaque implants, and drug delivery. In this review, we provide a thorough history of PEU synthesis methodology. The polymer properties arising from the various synthetic methods including mechanical, thermal, and biocompatibility properties are also summarized. This review concludes with an overview of progress in the primary applications of PEUs to date including hard and soft-tissue engineering, radiopaque biomaterials, adhesives, and drug delivery.

An in-depth review is presented on the interfacial phenomena of polymer nanocomposites and the role of the interface/interphase in capacitive energy storage. The interaction between polymer chains and nanofillers upon filler dispersion and glass transition temperature are discussed through the lens of the adsorbed layer or polymer-grafted nanoparticles. Moreover, fundamentals of dielectric physics are discussed regarding charge transport and charge entrapment on the interface, yielding the phenomenon of interfacial polarization. Therefore, the aim of this review is to inform the readers on the importance of the interface and highlight that both polymer chain dynamics and charge transport points of view are pivotal in the understanding of modern polymer nanodielectrics.

Proteins and peptides have played a pivotal role in revolutionizing disease treatment over the last century. Despite their commercial success, protein therapeutics can be eliminated or inactivated in the body via excretion or other metabolic pathways. Polymeric materials have been used to stabilize these biomolecules in the presence of external stressors as excipients, conjugates, and in nanomaterial formulations. Numerous advantages arise from the combination of therapeutic agents with polymeric carriers, including improved stability, solubility, prolonged blood circulation, and reduced immunogenicity. PEGylation, the covalent conjugation of poly(ethylene glycol) to a biomolecule of interest, is a common technique that has been employed in 31 FDA-approved therapeutic protein formulations to date. Although PEGylation has been widely adopted, there have been numerous advancements in the protein stabilization field using a variety of polymers including, but not limited to, poly(oxazolines), polypeptides, zwitterionic polymers, and polysaccharides with additional beneficial properties such as biocompatibility and biodegradability. Polymeric carriers can also protect lyophilized protein-peptide products from the stresses of supercooling, ice crystallization, sublimation, and desorption. This review discusses recent progress on the design principles of polymeric tools for biomolecule stabilization and delivery, with a focus on conjugates and nanomaterials. The clinical status of these materials and current challenges impeding the clinical translation are presented. In addition, various future possibilities for polymeric-protein therapies are also highlighted. Finally, the current computational landscape that harnesses the tools of machine learning combined with experimental validation to design polymeric systems tailored for biomolecule stability are discussed.

Since the invention of inverse vulcanization and high sulfur content polymers, termed Chalcogenide Hybrid Inorganic/Organic Polymers, the application of these polymers as optical materials for IR optics & photonics has garnered interest from groups around the world. Earlier publications and review papers have focused on the polymer chemistry aspects of inverse vulcanization, however, recent work in the past decade has seen tremendous new advances in polymer processing, rheology, and optical component (nano-micro) fabrication of lenses and photonic devices across the infrared spectrum. There is an urgent need for a review surveying both new polymer chemistry and polymer engineering aspects of this important new field, for the integration of these new optical polymers into imaging, communications, and sensing systems. In this submission, we review the fabrication and polymer processing of inverse vulcanized organopolysulfides made from elemental sulfur for IR optics and photonics. We survey recent work in the SWIR and MWIR spectrum for the development of integrated photonics devices using high sulfur content polymers, along with the fabrication and testing of LWIR bulk plastic optics using this new class of optical polymers.

In the last decades, nanoscale drug delivery systems have gained great attention partly due to their ability to improve the bioavailability of water insoluble drugs. To this end, the general aim in developing nanomedicine is to enhance efficacy, drug stability and drug safety profile ideally by an active- or passive-cell specific targeting effect. Alteration of dose-response and potential personalization might be future trademarks of nanomedicine. Macromolecular prodrugs (MPDs) represent a sub-class of polymer-drug conjugates featuring a degradable linkage between a macromolecule and a drug. MPDs are in particular interesting due to their capability to prolong blood circulation and to reduce side effects caused by minimized premature drug leakage. The maximum drug loading capacity is another advantage of MPDs over conventional nanomedicines. The chemical accessibility of drug conjugates and polymer carrier materials as well as recent developments in the MPD design of the last five years are summarized in this review article.

The "Janus" feature/structure inspired by the ancient Roman double-sided protector is prominent in the field of materials science due to its unique "asymmetric" concept and flexible and adjustable characteristics. The emergence of numerous biomaterials based on Janus properties/structures provides a different approach to material design for complex biomedical scenarios. Gel materials with excellent water absorption, flexibility and biocompatibility in various biomedical applications have greatly increased, and the structural design and functional integration of gels have reached some bottleneck. The Janus properties/structures completely subvert the traditional concept of "homogeneous gel" and break the limitation of "two-sided consistency" in biomedical gels. The concept of "two-sided asymmetry" led by "Adhesion-antiadhesion properties" and "hydrophilic-hydrophobic properties" has emerged and expanded the broad biomedical application prospects of Janus gels. In this review, we first summarize the various structural characteristics of Janus gel materials and the preparation technology of these gels, and explore the secret behind Janus structures from the raw materials and design concepts. Secondly, different kinds of asymmetries, including “hydrophilic-hydrophobic properties”, “Adhesion-antiadhesion properties”, structural heterogeneity and other unusual asymmetry, are discussed to show the relationship between Janus characteristics and structure. The applications of advanced Janus gels in biomedical fields such as tissue repair, anti-adhesion, substance delivery, hemostasis and human activity sensing are emphatically reviewed. In addition, the latest challenges and possible future direction of Janus gel are proposed.

A mechanical bond serves as a distinctive approach for harnessing the most beneficial features of both covalent and supramolecular chemistries, offering stability and structural adaptability owing to its unique dynamic nature. Molecules formed by mechanical bonding, known as mechanically interlocked molecules (MIMs) including catenanes, rotaxanes, and knots have opened new possibilities. Notably, the introduction of mechanically interlocked structures into polymers has led to the emergence of novel polymeric materials referred to as mechanically interlocked polymers (MIPs), such as polyrotaxanes and polycatenanes. The interlocked nature of these architectures can lead to particular conformational freedom and high mobility of their components, resulting in exceptional properties, such as ultra-stretchability, toughness, and immediate recoverability. These properties have found potential applications in diverse fields, including the development of tough hydrogels, scratch-resistant coatings, smart actuators, and batteries. Recent years have witnessed a surge in the synthesis and investigation of a diverse array of rotaxane-based MIPs, an essential class that has enabled researchers to begin grasping the impact of incorporating mechanical bonds within polymer structures, and of their mobility, on material properties. In this review, an overview of the dynamics of ring-containing polymers is presented. The review encompasses macromolecular rotaxanes, polyrotaxanes, and slide-ring networks, including the role of ring mobility in shaping the dynamics and properties of rotaxane polymers.

Polycatechols are a class of polymers bearing multiple catechol moieties. These polymers possess unique physiochemical properties such as antioxidant, bioadhesive, metal chelating, and dynamic covalent bonding. As a result, polycatechols have shown great promise in various biomedical applications i.e. drug delivery, gene and protein delivery, free radical scavenging, antimicrobials, bio-adhesions, tissue engineering, and bioimaging. The polymers have strong binding affinities with biomolecules such as genes, proteins, phospholipids, and extracellular matrices via non-covalent interactions, and are proposed as effective carriers for biotherapy and bioadhesives for tissue engineering. The abundant catechol moieties on polycatechols allow strong free radical scavenging to treat oxidative stress and inflammation. In addition, polycatechols form dynamic covalent linkages with boronate ligands, and are used to modulate the quorum-sensing signaling in bacteria, or deliver anticancer drug bortezomib to tumor microenvironments. Besides, polycatechols coordinate with metal ions such as gadolinium (III) to provide contrast reagents for magnetic resonance imaging. In this critical review, currently developed synthetic methods for polycatechols and their physiochemical properties will be introduced. The design principles for polycatechols in detailed biomedical applications will be intensively described. Finally, current challenges and future perspectives in the development of next-generation polycatechols will be discussed.