Sequence-Defined Macromolecules in Materials Science

Precise sequence and structural control is critical to the development of new functional, responsive and programmable polymeric materials. However, attempts to synthesize unimolecular polymers and precise networks with well-defined sequences are hampered by scale-up limitations. These limitations in scale-up have left research into the impact of sequence on materials largely under explored. Motivated by these opportunities and the need for sequence-control and structural diversity in polymeric materials research, I will present a versatile strategy for the assembly of cross-linkable sequence-defined macromolecules. This new synthetic functional polyurethane platform overcomes the scalability issue that plagues the iterative assembly of sequence-defined macromolecules and enables the assembly of polyurethane macromers at the gram-scale. Data highlighting the effect of sequence on network topology, optical and mechanical properties will be discussed. Overall, this body of work should provide the foundation for future studies exploring the tunability of bulk material properties via sequence control.