Due to a broad spectrum of active ingredients, snail slime presents a variety of exciting physical properties and chemical reactivities. Especially in the role of the reduction- and stabilizing agent...

Homopolyester from Radical Ring-Opening-Polymerisation (RROP) have been applied in nanoprecipitation to form nanoparticles for drug delivery. These nanoparticles are stable over various weeks and sho....

Polyesters with inherent pH-sensitivity are prepared through radical ring-opening polymerization between cyclic ketene acetals. These polyesters demonstrate great potential as alternatives to convent....

Radical ring-opening polymerization (RROP) of cyclic ketene acetals (CKAs) constitutes a powerful route to accessing degradable polyesters with unique properties. These multifaceted materials are mainly known as linear polymers. Polymer networks based on RROP have been scarcely described in the literature, and existing studies have focused mainly on incorporating complementary proportions of degradable units through RROP. The current study fills this critical gap and reports the synthesis and comprehensive characterization of polymer networks solely derived from RROP of CKAs, providing key insights into the network formation as well as the underpinning structure–property-relationship. Specifically, 2-methylene-1,3,6-trioxocane (MTC) was utilized as the main CKA building block in conjunction with a CKA cross-linker as well as a vinyl ether-based cross-linker. The polymer network formation was performed in bulk and in solution to exploit the solvent’s mediating effect. Subsequent comprehensive analysis of the gels’ macroscopic properties revealed the formation of hydrophobic 3D networks with storage moduli ranging from 1.9 to 312 kPa in the dry state, depending on the kind and amount of the employed cross-linker and the presence of solvent. In addition, the degradation behavior of these materials under alkaline conditions was examined, evidencing their susceptibility to rapid hydrolysis. These readily degradable hydrolyzable networks from RROP with tailored mechanical strength might hold promise in different fields of application ranging from 3D cell culture to polymeric scaffolds in tissue engineering.

Der Vorwurf stimmt: Die New Yorker Polizei hat in der U-Bahn Penn Station über 200 Schwule in eine Falle gelockt und dann wegen Cruising verhaftet.

Generative AI has made it trivial to generate fake microscopy images that are indistinguishable from real images, even for experts. As researchers in nanoscience, it is time for us to face this realit...

Amphiphilic block-copolymers were obtained from radical ring-opening polymerization (RROP) of 2-methylene-1,3,6-trioxocane (MTC) and 2-methylene-1,3-dioxepane (MDO). Targeted variations in the MTC/MD...

Dually responsive nanogel-films have undergone temperature- and redox-cycles. These have shown that synthetic stress has to be released before predictive behaviour can be reached.

Proteste in L.A. - und der US-Präsident entsendet die Nationalgarde. Dahinter erkennt der Historiker Berg den Wunsch Trumps, möglichst uneingeschränkt zu regieren. Dafür wende dieser einen "klassische...

EPF 2025. Please join us in Groningen, The Netherlands for the European Polymer Congress 2025!