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Smart Polymers: Synthetic Strategies, Supramolecular Morphologies, and Drug Loading

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Industrial Applications for Intelligent Polymers and Coatings

Abstract

Smart polymers are a relatively new type of material that is attracting attention from considerable attention from polymer scientists due to their promising applications in several high-tech industry fields. The properties of the smart polymers can change in various ways due to the action of a number of triggers such as temperature, pH, enzymes, ionic strength, and light intensity. The design of the polymer architecture is a key factor to obtain structures with the desired properties. The advent of controlled radical polymerization techniques has led to the development of a variety of polymers with controlled characteristics. Functionalization of these polymers has been successfully used to synthesize numerous structures with desired architectures creating unprecedented opportunities for the design of advanced materials with stimuli-responsive properties. In this chapter, recent advances in this fascinating research field will be presented highlighting new controlled living polymerization methods. Some concepts will also be introduced regarding drug loading and types of morphologies of self-assembled supramolecular structures derived from smart polymers.

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Authors and Affiliations

  1. Universidade Federal de Itajubá, Campus Avançado de Itabira, Minas Gerais, 35903-087, Brazil

    Marli Luiza Tebaldi & Rose Marie Belardi

  2. Departamento de Química Orgânica, Instituto de Química, Universidade Federal do Rio Grande do Sul, Av. Bento Gonçalves 9500, Porto Alegre, RS, 91501-970, Brazil

    Fernanda S. Poletto

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  1. Marli Luiza Tebaldi
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  2. Rose Marie Belardi
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  3. Fernanda S. Poletto
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Correspondence to Marli Luiza Tebaldi or Fernanda S. Poletto .

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Editors and Affiliations

  1. College of Engineering and Computer Scie, Manufacturing and Industrial Engineering, Edinburg, Texas, USA

    Majid Hosseini

  2. College of Eng. & Computer Science, RGV Star Professor, Manufacturing and In, Edinburg, Texas, USA

    Abdel Salam Hamdy Makhlouf

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Tebaldi, M.L., Belardi, R.M., Poletto, F.S. (2016). Smart Polymers: Synthetic Strategies, Supramolecular Morphologies, and Drug Loading. In: Hosseini, M., Makhlouf, A. (eds) Industrial Applications for Intelligent Polymers and Coatings. Springer, Cham. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-319-26893-4_7

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