Synthesis of polymers with designed structures

Abstract

Ruthenium based initiators of ring opening metathesis polymn. (ROMP) allow the controlled polymn. of a cyclic olefins. Strained olefins can be polymd. in a controlled fashion to provide high mol. wt. polymers of controlled dispersity. Over the past several years, these initiators have been used to prep. brush-block polymers of extremely high mol. wt. Block systems spontaneously phase sep. into well-ordered structures. At sufficient mol. wts., the systems are photonic crystals that reflect into the IR. These systems allow the control of the structure to yield materials with precisely designed structures for numerous applications and to study structure function relationships.