Targeted Chemical Functionalization of the Amorphous Phase in Polyolefins via Controlled Solvent Swelling.
- 1School of Polymer Science and Engineering, The University of Southern Mississippi, 118 College Drive, Hattiesburg, Mississippi39406, United States.
- 2Mississippi Polymer Institute, The University of Southern Mississippi, Hattiesburg, Mississippi39402, United States.
- 3Soft Matter Facility, Department of Materials Science and Engineering, Texas A&M University, College Station, Texas77845, United States.
Abstract
Postpolymerization modification of polyolefins enables direct introduction of functionality into high-volume, low-cost commodity materials, affording access to functional materials that are otherwise challenging to synthesize directly from monomers. However, traditional postpolymerization modification strategies result in randomly distributed functionalization along the polyolefin backbone, which can disrupt crystallinity and degrade the thermomechanical properties of the derived polymers. Crystallite-templated postpolymerization functionalization has recently emerged as a promising strategy to overcome these limitations, yet existing approaches often require specially prepared semicrystalline gels. Here, we report a swelling-assisted postpolymerization functionalization strategy that directly leverages the semicrystalline morphology of melt-processed polyolefins. In this process, the chemical reagents are selectively introduced to the amorphous phase of polymers for a targeted functionalization reaction at elevated temperatures. The resulting functionalized polyolefins largely retain the melting temperature and crystallinity of their unmodified counterparts across multiple grafting monomers, highlighting a practical and versatile platform for producing functional polyolefins with a preserved semicrystalline microstructure and bulk properties directly from commercial feedstocks.
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BibTeX
@article{qian2026targeted,
title = {{Targeted Chemical Functionalization of the Amorphous Phase in Polyolefins via Controlled Solvent Swelling.}},
author = {Jin Qian and Tianli Ren and Peiran Wei and Wisdom Kemakolam and Zhe Qiang},
journal = {ACS macro letters},
year = {2026},
month = sep,
doi = {10.1021/acsmacrolett.6c00383},
url = {https://europepmc.org/article/MED/42915593},
note = {CC BY},
}
RIS
TY - JOUR
TI - Targeted Chemical Functionalization of the Amorphous Phase in Polyolefins via Controlled Solvent Swelling.
AU - Jin Qian
AU - Tianli Ren
AU - Peiran Wei
AU - Wisdom Kemakolam
AU - Zhe Qiang
PY - 2026
DA - 2026/09/01
JO - ACS macro letters
DO - 10.1021/acsmacrolett.6c00383
UR - https://europepmc.org/article/MED/42915593
AB - Postpolymerization modification of polyolefins enables direct introduction of functionality into high-volume, low-cost commodity materials, affording access to functional materials that are otherwise challenging to synthesize directly from monomers. However, traditional postpolymerization modification strategies result in randomly distributed functionalization along the polyolefin backbone, which can disrupt crystallinity and degrade the thermomechanical properties of the derived polymers. Crystallite-templated postpolymerization functionalization has recently emerged as a promising strategy to overcome these limitations, yet existing approaches often require specially prepared semicrystalline gels. Here, we report a swelling-assisted postpolymerization functionalization strategy that directly leverages the semicrystalline morphology of melt-processed polyolefins. In this process, the chemical reagents are selectively introduced to the amorphous phase of polymers for a targeted functionalization reaction at elevated temperatures. The resulting functionalized polyolefins largely retain the melting temperature and crystallinity of their unmodified counterparts across multiple grafting monomers, highlighting a practical and versatile platform for producing functional polyolefins with a preserved semicrystalline microstructure and bulk properties directly from commercial feedstocks.
SN - 2161-1653
ER -