2021 Volume 42 Issue 1 Pages 30-37
The maleimide structure is highly reactive, exemplified by thiol-ene click reactions with thiols and Diels－Alder reactions with furans. Although post-polymerization modifications and macromolecular conjugations involving maleimide units have been widely studied, mostly due to their selectivity and high reactivity, little has been reported on the one-pot post-polymerization introduction of maleimides in polymer chains. Herein, we introduce p-maleimidophenyl isocyanate(PMPI) and its derivatives as modification agents to introduce maleimide moieties by reaction with hydroxy groups into polymer chains. The high reactivity of the resulting modification agents and of the corresponding maleimide structures once inserted in the polymer chains was examined by studying their reaction kinetics. Furthermore, the applications of the polymers functionalized by these modification agents were also introduced.
