New Methodology for Polymer Synthesis by Crystal Component Linking

Abstract

Crystalline-state polymerization often produce polymers with different structures compared to those produced by conventional polymerization. Crystalline-state polymerization can be classified into two types, topochemical polymerization and inclusion polymerization. In this context, we developed a new methodology to produce a polymer, in which a copolymerization of a host monomer and a guest monomer takes place, thus it can be regarded as a fusion of topochemical polymerization and inclusion polymerization. By using this new polymerization, the control of polymerization degree in step-growth polymerization, as well as the control of shape and network structure of a network polymer, have been achieved, which is reviewed in this chapter.