Dynamic Thiol-ene Polymer Networks Enabled by Bifunctional Silyl Ether Exchange.

Area of Science:

• Polymer Chemistry
• Materials Science
• Sustainable Chemistry

Background:

• Dynamic polymer networks offer a sustainable alternative to traditional plastics.
• They combine properties of thermoplastics and thermosets.
• Photoinitiated thiol-ene click chemistry provides a versatile synthesis route.

Purpose of the Study:

• To synthesize dynamic polymer networks via photoinitiated thiol-ene click chemistry.
• To investigate the tunability of viscoelastic properties.
• To demonstrate the reprocessability and degradability of the synthesized networks.

Main Methods:

• Utilized photoinitiated thiol-ene click chemistry.
• Incorporated bifunctional silyl ether alkene cross-linkers.
• Employed catalytic p-toluene sulfonic acid for network formation.

Main Results:

• Viscoelastic properties (stress relaxation time constant) were tunable over 3 orders of magnitude.
• Tunability achieved by adjusting catalyst loading, cross-linker amount, and cross-linker length.
• A nonmonotonic relationship was observed between stress relaxation kinetics and cross-linker length.
• Synthesized networks showed no loss of mechanical integrity after three reprocessing cycles.
• Networks were fully degradable in the presence of an acid catalyst.

Conclusions:

• Dynamic polymer networks can be effectively synthesized using photoinitiated thiol-ene click chemistry.
• Material properties are highly tunable through simple synthetic modifications.
• The developed networks exhibit excellent reprocessability and degradability, highlighting their sustainable nature.