Leveraging polymer mechanics at the molecular scale for chemical reactivity

The rapidly emerging field of polymer mechanochem. creates new opportunities to understand and exploit the mechanics of polymers at the mol. level. Chem. reactions of mech. sensitive mols. called mechanophores are activated using force transduced through covalently attached polymer chains. Many different types of covalent bond transformations have now been realized using force as the stimulus. The generation of reactive functional groups has been leveraged to mech. strengthen materials under typically degradative processing conditions, while the release of small mols. has applications in catalysis, sensing, and delivery. Mechanochromic transformations are among some of the most useful reactions in polymer mechanochem. as they allow stress and strain to be visualized directly. In particular, the development of mechanophores and strategies that enable multiple mechanochromic reactions is promising for being able to quantify stress and strain in polymers through discrete changes in color as a function of applied force.