Synthesis of polymers with well-defined structures in terms of their architectures, chemical compositions, molecular weight, etc., is a major concern of polymer chemistry. A number of polymerization techniques, such as anionic polymerization, living free radical polymerization, ring opening metathesis polymerization, have been developed and intensively researched in recent years. Consequently, polymer structure and property engineering has become possible, which extends the scope of material applications of polymers to many modern technologies, such as nanotechnology. Well-defined polymers have been used as building blocks for the creation of various supramolecular nanoobjects with a good control of morphology, size and functionality; Attaching polymers to functional inorganic nanoparticles via controlled polymerization improved processibility of inorganic nanoparticles for device fabrications; Multistep living polymerization coupling with organic and inorganic reactions also results in novel nanoobjects that could not be achieved before. This course will discuss living polymerization techniques in detail and their material applications will be briefly introduced. The course is designed for final year undergraduate and graduate students with organic and inorganic chemistry backgrounds.
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