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  • Polymer Mechanochemistry: Where Is It Going? Journal of the American Chemical Society Horst, M., Bhat, V., Xia, Y. 2025

    Abstract

    Mechanical force can induce and perturb chemical reactivity. By embedding force-responsive molecules, known as mechanophores, within polymer chains, forces can be precisely applied at specific locations within the molecules. Significant advances in polymer mechanochemistry over the past two decades have enhanced our understanding of how to design and control mechanical reactivity of molecular structures, enabled new types of (macro)molecular transformations that are inaccessible via thermal or photochemical manifolds, and led to the development of stress-sensing and toughening materials. In this Perspective, we aim to highlight significant developments in polymer mechanochemistry, discuss the current limitations, and offer our insights into where this dynamic field is headed.

    View details for DOI 10.1021/jacs.5c03945

    View details for PubMedID 40794431

  • Revealing Mechanochemical Force Distributions with Polymechanophore Block Copolymers. ACS macro letters Bhat, V., Xia, Y. 2025: 716-720

    Abstract

    Polymer mechanochemistry is most studied under ultrasonication conditions, where the force distribution along a polymer chain is typically modeled as a parabola centered at the chain midpoint. How far the forces required for mechanoactivation extend toward the chain ends remains a question of interest. Investigating the mechanochemical reactivity of mechanophores at defined locations off chain center and toward termini would provide valuable information regarding this, but preparing such polymers to study the effects of mechanophore location and chain length on mechanoactivation has been synthetically cumbersome. Using an operationally simple procedure, we synthesized a series of block copolymers containing a block of mechanophores by living ring opening metathesis polymerization of a ladderene-type mechanophore and a norbornene, with good control over block positions and lengths. We found that for polymers of initial degrees of polymerization (DP) ≈ 1000, terminal mechanophore blocks activated less than more centrally located ones. However, simply by extending the length of the mechanochemically inert block, terminal mechanophore blocks of DP ≈ 200 achieved surprisingly high degrees of mechanoactivation comparable to those of centrally located ones or mechanophore homopolymers, after an induction period. These findings revealed the broad range of high force coverage along a polymer chain under sonication conditions and the possibility to still achieve high degrees of productive mechanochemistry far away from chain centers.

    View details for DOI 10.1021/acsmacrolett.5c00197

    View details for PubMedID 40367344