Synthesis of structurally controlled hyperbranched polymers using a monomer having hierarchical reactivity

Hyperbranched polymers (HBPs) have attracted significant attention because of their characteristic topological structure associated with their unique physical properties compared with those of the corresponding linear polymers. Dendrimers are the most structurally controlled HBPs, but the necessity of a stepwise synthesis significantly limits their applications in materials science. Several methods have been developed to synthesize HBPs by a one-step procedure, as exemplified by the use of AB2 monomers and AB′ inimers under condensation and self-condensing vinyl polymerization conditions. However, none of these methods provides structurally controlled HBPs over the three-dimensional (3D) structure, i.e., molecular weight, dispersity, number of branching points, branching density, and chain-end functionalities, except under special conditions. Here, we introduce a monomer design concept involving two functional groups with hierarchical reactivity and demonstrate the controlled synthesis of dendritic HBPs over the 3D structure by the copolymerization of the designed monomer and acrylates under living radical polymerization conditions.