Microfabrication of high-performance aromatic polymers as nanotubes or fibrils by in situ ring-opening polymerisation of macrocyclic precursors

Colquhoun, H.M., Zolotukhin, M.G., Sestiaa, L.G., Arico, F., Zhu, Z.X., Hodge, P., Ben-Haida, A. and Williams, D.J. (2003) Microfabrication of high-performance aromatic polymers as nanotubes or fibrils by in situ ring-opening polymerisation of macrocyclic precursors. Journal of Materials Chemistry, 13 (7). pp. 1504-1506. ISSN 0959-9428 doi: 10.1039/b303948j

Abstract/Summary

Melt-phase nucleophilic ring-opening polymerisation of macrocyclic aromatic ethers and thioethers at high temperatures within the cylindrical pores of an anodic-alumina membrane, followed by dissolution of the template, enables replication of the membrane's internal pore structure and so affords high-performance aromatic polymers with well-defined fibrillar or tubular morphologies.