Synthesis and properties of copolymers with tailored sequence distribution by controlled/living radical polymerization

The control of the overall composition and the sequence distribution in copolymers with both linear and branched architectures is described. The synthesis of alternating and gradient copolymers as well as graft copolymers with statistical, gradient and block architectures was accomplished by controlled/living radical polymerization (atom transfer radical polymerization and reversible addition-fragmentation transfer polymerization). The properties of these tailored copolymers indicate that adjustment of sequence distribution at the molecular level has important effects on the macroscopic properties of the obtained polymeric materials.