(167ak) Synthesis and Characterization of Precision Dendritic Polymers (Dendripols)

Branched macromolecules are synthetically powerful soft materials with diverse technological
applications because of their high functional group (FG) density and entanglement-free rheology. Two
well-known examples of branched macromolecules are hyperbranched polymers and dendrimers, which
are found in modern additive, nanoscale electronic, and delivery technologies.

Despite their simple one-pot synthesis and uniformly distributed FGs, hyperbranched polymers are
highly disperse materials due to the statistic formation of branching points. In contrast, dendrimers are
sterically crowded, fractal-like macromolecules with a precise number of FGs positioned exclusively at
their periphery. To approach the precision of dendrimers and high FG density of hyperbranched
polymers, dendrimer-like star polymers were prepared from disperse polymer-based building blocks.
However, such materials exhibit ensemble properties because they are a mixture of species with different
molecular weights. To address this grand challenge, my research aims to prepare discrete polymer-based
building blocks and establish the synthesis, characterization, and fundamental structure-property
relationships of discrete dendritic polymers (dendripols).