Sequence-controlled polymers strategies

Asides from chain-growth, step-growth, and multi-step growth strategies, sequence-defined polymers may also be prepared using polymerization concepts inspired by biological polymerizations such as replication, transcription, and translation. For instance, sequence-defined templates can be used for monomer sequence regulation in non-natural polymerizations. Alternatively, catalytic molecular machines inspired by biocatalysts such as enzymes and ribozymes have been tested for the synthesis of sequence-controlled polymers. These developments are summarized in this last section of the chapter. 

Future work will concern more sophisticated polymer networks capable of switching complex sequences of developmental steps as required for the (re-) generation of specialised tissues and organs. For that aim, the structural and biomolecular complexity of hydrogel-based materials has to be increased and the characteristics of these future materials have to be temporally and spatially controlled. This will require advanced synthetic approaches which, in turn, have to be underpinned by powerful analytical strategies. Accordingly, the future research... 

Summarizing the above, presently there is no comprehensive understanding of the interrelation between chemical sequences in synthetic copolymers and the conditions of their synthesis. One has to glance merely at recent literature in synthetic polymer science to realize that the problem of sequence-property relationship is by no means studied comprehensively. In this contribution, we will discuss some new synthetic strategies, which have been developed recently to provide effective control of the chemical sequences. Our main focus will be on RCPs with tunable sequences. 

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