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Designer Molecules for Precision Polymerization : Control of Monomer
Sequence and Construction of Ring-Based Architectures
Department of Polymer Chemistry,
Graduate School of Engineering, Kyoto University
Biopolymers such as DNA and proteins are expressing their functions based on sequence
and position of functional groups in the pendant groups as well as shape (topology) of the
main chain. On the other hand, for synthetic polymers, control of the chain length and
terminal groups is now possible using living polymerizations, but that of topology and
sequence is still extremely difficult. Our efforts have been directed to control of sidechain
sequence and main-chain topology for vinyl polymers via creative design of
molecules (i.e., initiators and monomers) in polymerizations to lead to construction of
new type of “well-defined polymers” as well as development of functions derived from
the controlled structure.