Polymers Tailored for Controlled (Bio)degradation through End-group and In-chain Functionalization

Abstract

Currently, polymers can be created with specific properties that are tailored to a wide range of applications from medical to everyday products as packaging. There are different techniques to prepare novel polymer materials with various architectures and specific groups via a variety of reaction mechanisms of different complexity. End-group modification of polymers is a powerful tool for tailoring polymer properties. The end-group and in-chain functionalization strategy must be carefully selected based on catalyst, polymerization conditions, and other limitations such as solute solvent interactions or aggregation. The review provides a brief description of the functional moieties and an outline of synthetic strategies used for tailoring the (bio)degradable polymer properties by end-group and in-chain functionalization.