In the last decade, the field of sequence‐defined polymers and related ultraprecise, monodisperse synthetic macromolecules has grown exponentially. In the early stage, mainly articles or reviews dedicated to the development of synthetic routes toward their preparation have been published. Nowadays, those synthetic methodologies, combined with the elucidation of the structure–property relationships, allow envisioning many promising applications. Consequently, in the past 3 years, application‐oriented papers based on discrete synthetic macromolecules emerged. Hence, material science applications such as macromolecular data storage and encryption, self‐assembly of discrete structures and foldamers have been the object of many fascinating studies. Moreover, in the area of life sciences, such structures have also been the focus of numerous research studies. Here, it is aimed to highlight these recent applications and to give the reader a critical overview of the future trends in this area of research.

In this work, stereocontrolled sequence-defined oligomers were prepared using an automated thiolactone-based platform that allows post-synthesis functionalisation.

Sequence-encoded oligo(thioether urethane)s with two different coding monomers per backbone unit were prepared via a solid phase, two-step iterative protocol based on thiolactone chemistry. The first step of the synthetic cycle consists of the thiolactone ring opening with a primary amine, whereby the in situ released thiol is immediately reacted with an epoxide. In the second step, the thiolactone group is reinstalled to initiate the next cycle. This strategy allows to introduce two different coding monomers per synthetic cycle, rendering the resulting macromolecules especially attractive in the area of (macro)molecular data storage because of their increased data storage capacity. Subsequently, the efficiency of the herein reported synthesis route and the applicability of the dual-encoded sequence-defined macromolecules as a potential data storage platform have been demonstrated by unraveling the exact monomer order using tandem mass spectrometry techniques.

An automated, iterative protocol for the synthesis of multifunctional, sequence‐defined oligo‐urethane‐amides using thiolactone chemistry is reported. Here, sequenced functionalization of the backbone is easily introduced using commercially available primary amines. The chemistry is carried out on solid phase using different supports for better optimization of the synthetic protocol and in order to demonstrate the versatility of the approach. This technique is very effective for iterative synthesis and solid‐phase chemistry and enables the exploration of full automation of this approach using a robotic peptide synthesizer. As a result, this automated protocol allows for the synthesis of a sequence‐defined nonamer of high purity.

The storage of information in synthetic (macro)molecules provides an attractive alternative for current archival storage media, and the advancements made within this area have prompted the investigation of such molecules for numerous other applications (e.g., anti-counterfeiting tags, steganography). While different strategies have been described for storing information at the molecular level, this Perspective aims to provide a critical overview of the most prominent approaches that can be utilized for retrieving the encoded information. The major part will focus on the sequence determination of synthetic macromolecules, wherein information is stored by the precise arrangement of constituting monomers, with an emphasis on chemically aided strategies, (tandem) mass spectrometry, and nanopore sensing. In addition, recent progress in utilizing (mixtures of) small molecules for information storage will be discussed. Finally, the closing remarks aim to highlight which strategy we believe is the most suitable for a series of specific applications, and will also touch upon the future research avenues that can be pursued for reading (macro)molecular information.

A series of amphiphilic co-networks (ACNs) is prepared in a straightforward way via thiolactone chemistry by crosslinking a multivalent thiolactone-functional poly(dimethylsiloxane) building block with poly(ethylene glycol) diacrylates. Formation of the networks is triggered by the addition of an amine, of which the nucleophilicity and steric bulk control the curing kinetics. Furthermore, some of the crosslinks can be sacrificed to introduce a fluorescent group or dye via a thia-Michael addition, without affecting the bulk mechanical properties and swelling capabilities.The obtained ACNs exhibit a unique set of properties because of their nanophase separation, resulting in hydrophilic PEG and hydrophobic PDMS phases. Hence, swelling in both water and organic solvents is observed, of which the extent can be tuned by varying the overall PEG content.Additional supporting information may be found in the online version of this article.

Macromolecules found in Nature display a precise control over the primary as well as higher ordered architectures. To mimic the folding found in Nature, we herein demonstrate the design and...

Herein, a monodisperse soluble support is explored and used as an effective tool for the large-scale, liquid-phase synthesis of sequence-defined macromolecules. This support, based on a benzyl derivative with three...