ORGS3-0566
Development of Passerini-Iterative Exponential Growth (P-IEG): From Sequence-Defined Monodisperse Polymers to Bottlebrush Architectures and Molecular Data Storage
Topic
GS3. Graduate Student Oral Session III: Polymer Synthesis, Structure, Properties, and Processing
When and Where
Sep 28, 2026
15:00 - 15:12
Room 103
Session Chairs
Jiwon KIM
Junmin LEE
Youngwoon KO
Presenter(s)
Su Bin Park (Seoul National University)
Co-Author(s)
Abstract
The precise control over monomer sequences and chemical functionalities is a central goal in synthetic polymer chemistry. To address this, we developed the Passerini Iterative Exponential Growth (P-IEG) approach, which combines the combinatorial versatility of the Passerini three-component reaction with exponential chain amplification. In contrast to traditional incremental growth methods, the introduction of the Passerini reaction enables the simultaneous coupling of polymer chain growth and the immediate insertion of diverse side-chain functional groups in a single synthetic step. Taking advantage of this multicomponent reaction character, the size of the monomer alphabet can be systematically tailored by altering the starting materials, which inherently facilitates highly efficient molecular data storage with an expanded coding capacity.
We have successfully utilized this system to construct various uniform macromolecular architectures. In our initial work, we demonstrated the high efficiency and precision of the P-IEG method by synthesizing uniform 128-mer poly(hydroxybutyrate)s and a 31-mer sequence-defined polymer (SDP) that encodes an octal sequence utilizing eight chemically distinct repeating units. Building upon this milestone, we recently expanded the capability of P-IEG to complex topologies, achieving the synthesis of uniform bottlebrush polymers (BBPs) and self-assembling bottlebrush block copolymers (BBCPs) composed of up to 64 backbone repeating units and 63 side chains (molecular weight up to 63.6 kDa). To showcase the structural versatility of P-IEG, an all-sequence-defined bottlebrush polymer (ASD-BBP) featuring 47 sequence-defined oligomers was successfully engineered. Currently, we are expanding this system to maximize the storage capacity of dense graphical data within a single, monodisperse macromolecular chain. This presentation will cover the comprehensive synthetic development of P-IEG in our laboratory, highlighting its utility as a versatile methodology for both complex macromolecular engineering and precision information storage.
We have successfully utilized this system to construct various uniform macromolecular architectures. In our initial work, we demonstrated the high efficiency and precision of the P-IEG method by synthesizing uniform 128-mer poly(hydroxybutyrate)s and a 31-mer sequence-defined polymer (SDP) that encodes an octal sequence utilizing eight chemically distinct repeating units. Building upon this milestone, we recently expanded the capability of P-IEG to complex topologies, achieving the synthesis of uniform bottlebrush polymers (BBPs) and self-assembling bottlebrush block copolymers (BBCPs) composed of up to 64 backbone repeating units and 63 side chains (molecular weight up to 63.6 kDa). To showcase the structural versatility of P-IEG, an all-sequence-defined bottlebrush polymer (ASD-BBP) featuring 47 sequence-defined oligomers was successfully engineered. Currently, we are expanding this system to maximize the storage capacity of dense graphical data within a single, monodisperse macromolecular chain. This presentation will cover the comprehensive synthetic development of P-IEG in our laboratory, highlighting its utility as a versatile methodology for both complex macromolecular engineering and precision information storage.
