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Polymer Congress 2018 Polymer Sciences
ISSN: 2471-9935 Page 23
June 04-05, 2018
London, UK
4th Edition of International Conference on
Polymer Science and
Technology
Dendronized polymers are formed through densely attaching
dendrons along a linear polymer main chain, which adopt
cylindrical wormlike morphology with tunable thickness.
Inspired from the smart properties of biomacromolecules in
nature, an intriguing class of stimuli-responsive dendronized
polymers were constructed through combination of dendritic
oligoethylene glycols (OEG) with various kinds of polymer
backbones. Due to the densely covered OEG pendants, these
macromolecules show unprecedented thermoresponsiveness
and excellent biocompatibility. This presentation will discuss
our findings in developing versatile thermoresponsive warm-
like dendronized polymethacrylates and polypeptides by
decorating with dendritic OEG pendants through covalent
linkages, dynamic covalent linkages or supramolecular
interactions. Depending mainly on the molecular topology,
amphiphilic structure in these dendronized polymers
plays different roles on mediating their stimuli-responsive
properties. Based on the thickness effects, dendronized
polymers undergo heterogeneous dehydration and collapse
on individual molecular level. Therefore, guest molecules can
be encapsulated and released based on the phase transition
temperature, heating rate and thickness of the polymers,
resulting in interestingly the formation of molecular containers.
This encapsulation property affords these thick polymers
tunable shielding ability to protonation and metal coordination
in aqueous solutions. In a word, combination of unique
thermoresponsive behavior, reversible encapsulation and
switchable shielding to guests, protonation as well as metal
coordination from these OEGylated dendronized polymers may
lead to their promising applications in biomaterials, including
drug delivery and targeting, enzyme activity control and
transportation.
Recent Publications
1. Li W et al. (2008) Thermoresponsive dendronized
polymers. Macromolecules. 41(10):3659-3667.
2. Junk M J N et al. (2010) EPR spectroscopic
characterization of local nanoscopic heterogeneities
during the thermal collapse of thermoresponsive
dendronized polymers. Angew. Chem. Int. Ed.
49(33):5683-5687.
3. LiuLetal.(2011)Comblikethermoresponsivepolymers
with sharp transitions: synthesis, characterization,
and their use as sensitive colorimetric sensors.
Macromolecules. 44(21):8614-8621.
4. Yan J, Li W and Zhang A (2014) Dendronized
supramolecular polymers. Chem. Commun.
50(82):12221-12233.
5. Yan J et al. (2016) Thermoresponsive dendronized
polypeptides showing switchable recognition to
catechols. Macromolecules. 49(2):510-517.
Biography
Afang Zhang is a Polymer Chemist. His research interest comprises den-
dronized polymers, supramolecular polymers, helical polymers, as well as
polymers with switchable properties. He began his research work from
1988 at Chemistry Institute of Henan. After three years working at German
Plastics Institute and Free University of Berlin, he joined Zhengzhou Univer-
sity as Distinguished Professor. From 2005, he started working in ETH Zu-
rich as Senior Scientist. By the end of 2009, he returned to China and joined
Shanghai University as Distinguished Professor. Thereafter, he became a
1000-plan Scholar affiliated to Shanghai Government. From 2017, he was
offered a title of honor professor by the University of Queensland. He has
hosted more than 40 projects from Chinese and Swiss Governments and
received more than 10 Science And Technology Awards from Chinese Gov-
ernments. He has published more than 120 journal papers and is the Inven-
tor for more than 20 patents.
OEGylated dendronized polymers for stimuli-responsive
materials
Afang Zhang and Wen Li
Shanghai University, China
Afang Zhang et al., Polym Sci 2018, Volume 4
DOI: 10.4172/2471-9935-C2-011