(541h) Designing Next-Generation Biomaterials through Side-Chain Engineering

Precision synthetic polymers hold significant promise for advancing the design of biomaterials and precision medicine. A persistent challenge in polymer science, however, is the distribution of molecular weights in synthetic polymers, which introduces structural heterogeneity. This challenge is even more pronounced in branched polymers due to their multilayered dispersity.

This talk will present our strategies to tackle this challenge by investigating precision bottlebrush polymers (PBP), which are synthesized through grafting-through polymerization of discrete macromonomers containing hydrophobic, fluorinated, and zwitterionic moieties (Đ = 1.0). We will discuss our latest work on PBPs that demonstrates how structural precision can significantly enhance their NMR dynamics.