Construction of a soft giant cage-like molecular system consisting of polymer chains

2020 Fiscal Year Final Research Report

• Project/Area Number: 19K22209
• Research Category: Grant-in-Aid for Challenging Research (Exploratory)
• Allocation Type: Multi-year Fund
• Review Section: Medium-sized Section 35:Polymers, organic materials, and related fields
• Research Institution: Hokkaido University
• Principal Investigator: Satoh Tofhifumi 北海道大学, 工学研究院, 教授 (80291235)
• Co-Investigator(Kenkyū-buntansha): 山本 拓矢 北海道大学, 工学研究院, 准教授 (30525986) ; 磯野 拓也 北海道大学, 工学研究院, 助教 (70740075)
• Project Period (FY): 2019-06-28 – 2021-03-31
• Keywords: 特殊構造高分子 / 精密高分子合成 / カゴ型高分子 / 星型高分子 / 超分子化学

Outline of Final Research Achievements

Cage-shaped nanoobjects which composed of synthetic soft polymer framework was successfully synthesized and subjected to structural analysis. The three-armed cage-shaped polycaprolactone as a model macromolecule was synthesized and characterized by small-angle X-ray scattering experiment in solution state, which revealed that the cage-shaped macromolecule had a unique folded dimension as compared to the linear counterpart. In addition, we have established a cyclopolymerization strategy to graft polymers with densely arrayed cage-shaped PCL side chains. This synthetic method allowed the control of number of cage-shaped units of graft polymers, which enabled systematic characterization. Since all the synthetic method that we used can be applicable to diverse polymer species, the cage-shaped nanoobjects with desired number of cage-shaped units will be easily obtained. The cage-shaped nanoobjects with soft polymeric framework could be new promising candidate for materials application.

Free Research Field

高分子化学

Academic Significance and Societal Importance of the Research Achievements

本研究は前例のないソフトで巨大な三次元空間を有するかご状高分子材料を容易に提供し得ることから、孤立空間の化学、材料科学、薬学などといった幅広い学術分野に強いインパクトを与える点で意義深い。特に、サイズ可変的な孤立空間を利用したドラッグデリバリーシステムや反応場に利用可能な新規機能性材料の開発の加速が期待される。この成果により、「ソフトな巨大カゴ状分子」を新たなカテゴリーの分子システムとして確立出来た。