Combining linear polymers and dendrimers provides numerous advantages such as increased solubility, biodegradability and a large number of functionalizable peripheral moieties. In this work, novel carborane-containing dendronized polymers were designed as potential candidates for Boron Neutron Capture Therapy (BNCT). These polymers were successfully synthesized using two different approaches. The resulting carborane-functionalized polymers were dendronized using a divergent approach to introduce aliphatic polyester dendrons of generation 1-4 grafted from the polymer backbone. Both approaches produced water-soluble dendronized polymers with high molecular weights. The synthetic approach developed in the first part of this work was also applied in the functionalization of poly(ethylene glycol) (PEG)-grafted gold surfaces with hydrophilic dendrons. In this project, the effect of surface dendronization on protein adsorption was investigated. Contrary to our expectation, protein resistance was found to decrease when the surfaces were covalently functionalized with the hydrophilic dendrons despite their improved hydrophilicity. It was postulated that several factors could be responsible for the increased protein adsorption to the dendronized surfaces, including increased surface area, the introduction of hydrogen-bond donor groups, and a decrease in the mobility of the surface-grafted polymers as a result of inter- and intra-molecular hydrogen bonding between the dendrons. To circumvent these confounding phenomena, while maintaining surface hydrophilicity, we have chosen to covalently attach PEG mono-methyl ether (PEG-OMe) chains of various molecular weight to the peripheral hydroxyl groups of first to fourth generation dendronized surfaces. Results showed that protein adsorption was reduced when dendronized surfaces were grafted with PEG-OMe chains. The hydroxyl-terminated G l-G4 dendronized surfaces and PEG-grafted dendronized surfaces were also investigated for cell adhesion and proliferation. These studies showed that little or no cell adhesion occurred on PEG-grafted gold surfaces. However, greater cell affinity for the dendronized surfaces was observed. When dendronized surfaces were coupled with PEG-OMe chains, cell adhesion was significantly diminished. / Thesis / Doctor of Philosophy (PhD)

In der vorliegenden Dissertation wurden mittels kontrolliert radikalischer Polymerisationstechniken alkinhaltige Blockcopolymere synthetisiert. In effizienten Cu(I)-katalyisierten 1,3-dipolaren Cycloadditionen (Click-Chemie) wurde diese modifiziert. Insbesondere durch die Addition dendritischer Verbindungen gelang die Darstellung nanosopischer Objekte. Darüber hinaus konnten dünne Filme phasenseparierten Blockcopolymere selektiv und ortsaufgelöst funktionalisiert werden. Die Arbeit liefert somit Beiträge zur Entwicklung neuartiger Nanomaterialien sowie ihrer Modifizierung.

In der vorliegenden Dissertation wurden mittels kontrolliert radikalischer Polymerisationstechniken alkinhaltige Blockcopolymere synthetisiert. In effizienten Cu(I)-katalyisierten 1,3-dipolaren Cycloadditionen (Click-Chemie) wurde diese modifiziert. Insbesondere durch die Addition dendritischer Verbindungen gelang die Darstellung nanosopischer Objekte. Darüber hinaus konnten dünne Filme phasenseparierten Blockcopolymere selektiv und ortsaufgelöst funktionalisiert werden. Die Arbeit liefert somit Beiträge zur Entwicklung neuartiger Nanomaterialien sowie ihrer Modifizierung.

In this study, dendronization and grafting via controlled polymerization techniques, atom transfer radical polymerization (ATRP) and ring-opening polymerization (ROP), have been explored. Modification of surfaces and cellulose using these techniques, which enable grafting of well-defined polymer architectures, has been investigated. The interest in using cellulose stems from its renewability, biocompatibility, high molecular weight, and versatile functionalization possibilities. Dendronization was performed using disulfide-cored didendrons of 2,2-bis(methylol)propionic acid (bis-MPA) on gold surfaces, for the formation of self-assembled monolayers. It was found that the height of the monolayer increased with increasing dendron generation and that the end-group functionality controlled the wettability of the modified surface. Superhydrophobic cellulose surfaces could be obtained when a ‘graft-on-graft’ architecture was obtained using ATRP from filter paper after subsequent post-functionalized using a perfluorinated compound. The low wettability could be explained by a combination of a high surface roughness and the chemical composition. Biobased dendronized polymers were synthesized through the ‘attach to’ route employing dendronization of soluble cellulose, in the form of hydroxypropyl cellulose (HPC). The dendronized polymers were studied as nanosized objects using atomic force microscopy (AFM) and it was found that the dendron end-group functionality had a large effect on the molecular conformation on surfaces of spun cast molecules. ATRP of vinyl monomers was conducted from an initiator-functionalized HPC and an initiator-functionalized first generation dendron, which was attached to HPC. The produced comb polymers showed high molecular weight and their sizes could be estimated via AFM of spun cast molecules on mica and from dynamic light scattering in solution, to around 100-200 nm. The comb polymers formed isoporous membranes, exhibiting pores of a few micrometers, when drop cast from a volatile solvent in a humid environment. HPC was also used to initiate ROP of ε-caprolactone, which was chain extended using ATRP to achieve amphiphilic comb block copolymers. These polymers could be suspended in water, cross-linked and were able to solubilize a hydrophobic compound. / QC 20100826

The goal of this work was to synthesize complex macromolecular architectures such as dendrimers and dendronized polymers, and evaluate the effect from the dendrons on the optical and material properties. The work presented in this doctoral thesis, Dendrimers and Dendronized Polymers - Synthesis and Characterization, is divided into one minor and one major part. The first part deals with the synthesis and characterization of two sets of dendritic porphyrins based on 2,2-bis(methylol)propionic acid (bis-MPA). The second part deals with the synthesis and characterization of dendronized poly(hydroxyl ethyl methacylate), dendronized poly(norbornene), and dendronized triblock copolymers, were the pendant dendrons are based on bis-MPA. Both free-base and zinc containing dendritic porphyrins was synthesized up to the fifth generation by employing iterative ester coupling utilizing the acetonide protected anhydride of bis-MPA as generic building block. First and second generation dendron bearing methacrylates based on 2-hydroxyethyl methacrylate were also synthesized by utilizing the acetonide protected anhydride of bis-MPA, and subsequently polymerized by atom transfer radical polymerization. By adopting a divergent “graft-to” approach starting from the first generation dendronized poly(hydroxyl ethyl methacrylate), well-defined dendronized polymers with acetonide, hydroxyl, acetate and hexadecyl surface functionality were obtained. By utilizing the same divergent iterative esterfication, first to fourth generation dendron functionalized norbornenes were synthesized. These monomers were polymerized by ring-opening metathesis polymerization, utilizing either Grubbs´ first or second generation catalyst. Acrylate functional first to fourth generation monomers were synthesized by the copper(I) catalyzed “click” coupling of azido functional dendrons and propargyl acrylate. The monomers were polymerized to dendronized triblock copolymers by reversible addition-fragmentation chain transfer polymerization, utilizing a difunctional poly(methyl methacrylate) as macro chain transfer agent. The bulk properties of the dendronized poly(hydroxyl ethyl methacrylate) and poly(norbornene) were investigated by dynamic rheological measurements and differential scanning calorimetry. It was found that all the acetonide functional bis-MPA based dendronized polymers had glass transitions temperatures in a similar range. The rheological behaviour showed that for the dendronized polymers having the same backbone length the complex viscosity as a function of functionality was independent of the surface functionality of the polymer. The generation number of the polymer had a profound influence on the complex viscosity, changing form a Newtonian behaviour to a shear thinning behaviour when the generation of the dendrons was increased from two to four. The dendronized poly(norbornene) had increasingly shorter backbone lengths for each generational increase, and for the materials set with comparably lower degree of polymerization, the G’ part of the complex modulus was mostly affected by attaching larger dendrons. In the case of the sample set of higher degree of polymerization, the second, third, and fourth generation samples had similar slopes of the G’ and G” curves, indicating a similar relaxation behaviour. / QC 20100914