Supramolecular Polymer Brushes Grown by Surface-Initiated Atom Transfer Radical Polymerization from Cucurbit[7]uril-based Non-Covalent Initiators.

Polymer brushes are densely grafted, chain end-tethered assemblies of polymers that can be produced via surface-initiated polymerization. Typically, this is accomplished using initiators or chain transfer agents that are covalently attached to the substrate. This manuscript reports an alternative route towards polymer brushes, which involves the use of non-covalent cucurbit[7]uril-adamantane host-guest interactions to surface-immobilize initiators for atom transfer radical polymerization.

Supramolecular Polymer Brushes.

Polymer brushes are thin polymer films that consist of densely grafted, chain-end tethered polymers. These thin polymer films can be produced either by anchoring presynthesized chain-end functional polymers to the surface of interest ("grafting to"), or by using appropriately modified surfaces to facilitate growth of polymer chains from the substrate ("grafting from"). The vast majority of polymer brushes that have been prepared and studied so far involved chain-end tethered polymer assemblies that are anchored to the surface via covalent bonds.

Swelling-Activated, Soft Mechanochemistry in Polymer Materials.

Swelling in polymer materials is a ubiquitous phenomenon. At a molecular level, swelling is dictated by solvent-polymer interactions, and has been thoroughly studied both theoretically and experimentally. Favorable solvent-polymer interactions result in the solvation of polymer chains.

Mechanoresponsive Micro-and Nanoparticles.

Mechanical stimuli are ubiquitous in the human body. In contrast to biochemical stimuli such as pH, redox, hypoxia or enzymes as well as exogenous stimuli such as magnetic fields, temperature or ultrasound, endogenous biomechanical stimuli have only received relatively limited attention as a means to trigger stimuli-sensitive materials. The aim of this short article is to highlight the potential of endogenous biomechanical stimuli to control the behaviour of biomaterials relevant to, for example, drug delivery or tissue repair and regeneration.