Biomimetic Design of Reversibly Unfolding Cross-Linker to Enhance Mechanical Properties of 3D Network Polymers

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• 作者：Aaron M. Kushner ; Vahe Gabuchian ; Evan G. Johnson ; Zhibin Guan
• 刊名：Journal of the American Chemical Society
• 出版年：2007
• 出版时间：November 21, 2007
• 年：2007
• 卷：129
• 期：46
• 页码：14110 - 14111
• 全文大小：69K
• 年卷期：v.129,no.46(November 21, 2007)
• ISSN：1520-5126

文摘

We report here a biomimetic design of a reversibly unfolding modular cross-linker to enhance mechanical properties of 3D network polymers. The inspiration comes from the modular biopolymers observed in nature. A cyclic modular cross-linker based on the quadruple hydrogen bonding 4-ureido-2-pyrimidone (UPy) motif was synthesized via multistep organic synthesis. The modular cross-linker was incorporated into poly(n-butyl acrylate) by free radical polymerization. Stress-strain measurements show that the samples containing our modular cross-linker exhibit significantly enhanced mechanical properties over the control samples. Most strikingly, with increasing cross-linker density, both modulus and tensile strength are significantly improved without sacrificing extensibility. The enhanced tensile properties are attributed to the increased energy dissipating ability of the reversibly unfolding cross-linker. This introduces a novel biomimetic concept to enhance network mechanical properties through design of molecularly engineered cross-linkers.