Click Chemistry in Functional Aliphatic Polycarbonates

Abstract

Click chemistry, one of the most important methods in conjugation, plays an extremely significant role in the synthesis of functional aliphatic polycarbonates, which are a group of biodegradable polymers containing carbonate bonds in their main chains. To date, more than 75 articles have been reported on the topic of click chemistry in functional aliphatic polycarbonates. However, these efforts have not yet been highlighted. Six categories of click reactions (alkyne-azide reaction, thiol-ene reaction, Michael addition, epoxy-amine/thiol reaction, Diels-Alder reaction, and imine formation) that have been afforded for further post-polymerization modification of polycarbonates are reviewed. Through this review, a comprehensive understanding of functional aliphatic polycarbonates aims to afford insight on the design of polycarbonates for further post-polymerization modification via click chemistry and the expectation of the practical application.

Keywords: CO2-epoxy addition polymerization; click chemistry; modification ring-opening polymerization; polycarbonates; post-polymerization.