Nanoscale building blocks are individually exceptionally strong because they are close to ideal, defect-free materials. It is, however, difficult to retain the ideal properties in macroscale composites. Bottom-up assembly of a clay/polymer nanocomposite allowed for the preparation of a homogeneous, optically transparent material with planar orientation of the alumosilicate nanosheets. The stiffness and tensile strength of these multilayer composites are one order of magnitude greater than those of analogous nanocomposites at a processing temperature that is much lower than those of ceramic or polymer materials with similar characteristics. A high level of ordering of the nanoscale building blocks, combined with dense covalent and hydrogen bonding and stiffening of the polymer chains, leads to highly effective load transfer between nanosheets and the polymer.

The increasing need for materials with tightly controlled structures will continue to fuel the induction of synthetic organic concepts into materials science. One powerful example is the embracement of “click chemistry” by the materials science community. Because of their high selectivity, near‐perfect reliability, high yields, and exceptional tolerance towards a wide range of functional groups and reaction conditions click reactions have recently attracted increased attention, specifically for use in polymer synthesis as well as for the modification of surfaces and nanometer‐ and mesoscale structures. As outlined in this Review article, click chemistry, such as the CuI‐catalyzed Huisgen 1,3‐dipolar cycloaddition and the Diels–Alder reaction, presents a synthetic concept that lends itself superbly to the controlled preparation of multifunctional materials.

We report a fully defined synthetic polymer coating, poly[2-(methacryloyloxy)ethyl dimethyl-(3-sulfopropyl)ammonium hydroxide] (PMEDSAH), which sustains long-term human embryonic stem (hES) cell growth in several different culture media, including commercially available defined media. The development of a standardized, controllable and sustainable culture matrix for hES cells is an essential step in elucidating mechanisms that control hES cell behavior and in optimizing conditions for biomedical applications of hES cells.

Everything just clicks into place: Alkyne‐group functionalized polymer films that are deposited from the gas phase allow spatially defined immobilization of biomolecules, such as biotin, through the 1,3‐dipolar cycloaddition click reaction with azide derivatives (see scheme). Such biofunctional surfaces have applications in diagnostics and biosensors.

Biocompatible anisotropic polymer particles with bipolar affinity towards human endothelial cells are a novel type of building blocks for microstructured bio-hybrid materials. Functional polarity due to two biologically distinct hemispheres has been achieved by synthesis of anisotropic particles via electro-hydrodynamic co-jetting of two different polymer solutions and subsequent selective surface modification.