NIMS and RIKEN have succeeded in synthesizing the longest ever bottlebrush polymer. Resembling a green foxtail, this polymer is composed of a main chain and numerous side chains grafting from it. EurekAlert!, the website run by the American Association for the Advancement of Science, gave us the good news. 
 

THE LONGEST BOTTLEBRUSH POLYMER

This research team has recently succeeded in synthesizing the longest bottlebrush polymer ever by devising the molecular design of the monomer as starting material and using a single crystal of the monomer to set up a polymerization environment with very few impurities. The length reached 7 μm, which is about 3.8 times longer than the longest value so far. Furthermore, by combining two types of polymerization methods, the research team succeeded in synthesizing bottlebrush polymers with four types of side chains while maintaining the length of the main chain.

MANY JAPANESE RESEARCHERS COLLABORATE ON PROJECT

This project was carried out by a research team led by Yoshihiro Yamauchi (Independent Scientist, Research Center for Functional Materials, NIMS) and Yasuhiro Ishida (Team Leader, Center for Emergent Matter Science, RIKEN). This work was mainly supported by the JSPS Grant-in-Aid for Scientific Research, the JST Strategic Basic Research Program CREST, the Izumi Science and Technology Foundation, the Iketani Science and Technology Foundation, and the Shorai Foundation for Science and Technology.