Living anionic polymerization is a powerful method to create novel polymer architectures and high molecular weight polymer structures.

Professors Holger Frey and Takashi Ishizone state, “..[this] living synthesis technique and its manifold consequences continue to inspire researchers in diverse areas ranging from polymer chemistry to nanotechnology, soft matter physics, biology and pharmaceutical sciences, to name only a few relevant fields.”.

“Industrially, each year more than 700 000 tons thermoplastic elastomers based on triblock copolymers are prepared by carbanionic polymerization. Several million tons of poly(ethylene glycol) and copolymers with propylene oxide are produced by the living oxyanionic polymerization. These examples clearly demonstrate the immense industrial significance of anionic polymerization methods, whenever precise control of chain length and terminal functionality is required or specific architectures are vital.”

Inspired by the 60^th anniversary of anionic polymerization in 2016, Holger Frey and Takashi Ishizone organized two excellent special issues for Macromolecular Chemistry and Physics that demonstrate the advantages of the method and its potential for the future.

The first issue appeared in June 2017 (issue 12) and highlights the work of leading scientists mainly based in Asia.

We are now proud to present the second of the two special issues that showcases the work of prominent scientists mainly based in Europe and USA .

The issue is available for FREE until December 31, 2018!

Contributions to the issue:

Living Anionic Polymerization – Part II: Further Expanding the Synthetic Versatility for Novel Polymer Architectures

by Holger Frey and Takashi Ishizone

Design and Synthesis of Multigraft Copolymer Thermoplastic Elastomers: Superelastomers

by Nam-Goo Huiqun Wang, Wei Lu, Weiyu Wang, Priyank N. Shah, Konstantinos Misichronis, Nam-Goo Kang* and Jimmy W. Mays*

Four-Phase Morphologies in Blends of ABC and BAC Triblock Terpolymers

by Taida Gil Haenelt, Clarissa Abetz and Volker Abetz*

Systematic Variation of the Degree of Branching (DB) of Polyglycerol via Oxyanionic Copolymerization of Glycidol with a Protected Glycidyl Ether and Its Impact on Rheological Properties

by Christian Schubert, Martina Schömer, Marvin Steube, Stefan Decker, Christian Friedrich and Holger Frey

Revisiting the Anionic Polymerization of Methyl Ethacrylate

by Justin G. Kennemur, Frank S. Bates and Marc A. Hillmyer

End-Functionalized Chains via Anionic Polymerization: Can the Problems with Using Diphenylethylene Derivatives be Solved by using Bisphenol F?

by Antonella Pagliarulo and Lian R. Hutchings

Hydrocarbon-Soluble Piperazine-Containing Dilithium Anionic Initiator for High Cis-1,4 Isoprene Polymerization

by Alison R. Schultz, Sachin Bobade, Philip J. Scott and Timothy E. Long

Complex Brush-Like Macromolecular Architectures via Anionic and Ring Opening Metathesis Polymerization: Synthesis, Characterization, and Thermal Properties

by George V. Theodosopoulos, Spyridoula-Lida Bitsi and Marinos Pitsikalis

Networks Based on “Core-First” Star Polymers End-Linked Using a Degradable Ketal Cross-Linker: Synthesis, Characterization, and Cleavage

by Eleni J. Kepola and Costas S. Patrickios

Sequential Bulk Anionic Polymerization of α-Methylstyrene and Isoprene to Form Diblock and Triblock Copolymers

by Yifan Li and Daniel M. Knauss

Living Anionic Polymerization of 4-(1-Adamantyl)-α-Methylstyrene

by Shingo Kobayashi, Hiroshi Kataoka, Raita Goseki and Takashi Ishizone

Design of Optimized Reaction Conditions for the Efficient Living Anionic Polymerization of Cyclopropane-1,1-Dicarboxylates

by Antoine Benlahouès, Blandine Brissault, Sylvie Boileau and Jacques Penelle

Anionic Polymerization of 2-Hexyl[3]dendralene

by Yuki Takamura, Katsuhiko Takenaka, Tomoyuki Toda, Hiroki Takeshita, Masamitsu Miya and Tomoo Shiomi

4-Styrenesulfonyl-(2-methyl)aziridine: The First Bivalent Aziridine-Monomer for Anionic and Radical Polymerization

by Tassilo Gleede, Elisabeth Rieger, Tatjana Homann-Müller and Frederik R. Wurm

Polyvinylpyridine-Grafted Block Copolymers by an Iterative All-Anionic Polymerization Strategy

by Michael Appold, Christian Rüttiger, Björn Kuttich, Bernd Stühn and Markus Gallei

Dialkylmagnesium-Promoted Deprotonation of Protic Precursors for the Activated Anionic Ring-Opening Polymerization of Epoxides

by Kévin Roos, Anne-Laure Wirotius and Stéphane Carlotti

 

Enjoy the reading!

 

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Submit HERE your next paper to the journal. We look forward to it!