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Updated: Aug 9, 2026

Synthesis of Cyclic Polymers and Characterization of Their Diffusive Motion in the Melt State at the Single Molecule Level
Published on: September 26, 2016
Polymers with upper critical solution temperature in aqueous solution
1Philipps-Universität Marburg, Department of Chemistry and Scientific Center for Materials Science, Hans-Meerwein Straße, 35032 Marburg, Germany.
Abstract:
This review focuses on polymers with upper critical solution temperature (UCST) in water or electrolyte solution and provides a detailed survey of the yet few existing examples. A guide for synthetic chemists for the design of novel UCST polymers is presented and possible handles to tune the phase transition temperature, sharpness of transition, hysteresis, and effectiveness of phase separation are discussed. This review tries to answer the question why polymers with UCST remained largely underrepresented in academic as well as applied research and what requirements have to be fulfilled to make these polymers suitable for the development of smart materials with a positive thermoresponse.
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