We report a dispersion polymerization method based on thiol−Michael addition reactions for the preparation of cross-linked, narrow dispersity microparticles with well-defined, tunable physicochemical properties. Polymerization between pentaerythritol tetra(3-mercaptopropionate) (PETMP) and trimethylolpropane triacrylate in methanol was chosen as a model system, with the addition of triethylamine as a catalyst and polyvinylpyrrolidone as a stabilizer. The formation of microparticles took place within seconds at ambient conditions, as a result of a polymerization driven phase transition from dissolved monomers to precipitated polymers. The particle size was found to be affected by the amount of catalyst, the monomer concentration, and the monomer/polymer solubility in the reaction media. Monodispersity was achieved within a range of particle diameters from 1.6 to 4.3 μm, as determined both by scanning electron microscopy and dynamic light scattering. The reaction kinetics were studied by Fourier transform infrared spectroscopy by analyzing aliquots withdrawn from the reaction system at various reaction time points. Nearly quantitative conversions were achieved within 6 h for stoichiometric systems and 1 h for off-stoichiometric systems, both initiated with triethylamine. By utilizing photolabile bases as the reaction catalyst, phototriggered formation of the microparticles was demonstrated with ultraviolet irradiation. Monodisperse particles were formed with hexylamine and 1,1,3,3-tetramethylguanidine, both with 2-(2-nitrophenyl)propyloxycarbonyl as the UV-labile photocage. Furthermore, as a demonstration of the versatility of this method, microparticles were prepared from copolymerizations between PETMP and four types of diacrylates with varied backbone structures. With increased backbone rigidity, the microparticle glass transition temperature increased from −36 to 8 °C. This method provides a platform for the realization of the nearly ideal step-growth networks in microscale, with highly tunable backbone structures, robust thermal transitions, and intrinsic functionalization capacity.

No abstract

Objectives To detail the development of ester-free thiol-ene dental resins with enhanced mechanical performance, limited potential for water uptake/leachables/degradation and low polymerization shrinkage stress. Methods Thiol-terminated oligomers were prepared via a thiol-Michael reaction and a bulky tetra-allyl monomer containing urethane linkages was synthesized. The experimental oligomers and/or monomers were photopolymerized using visible light activation. Several thiol-ene formulations were investigated and their performance ranked by comparisons of the thermo-mechanical properties, polymerization shrinkage stress, water sorption/solubility, and reactivity with respect to a control comprising a conventional BisGMA/TEGDMA dental resin. Results The ester-free thiol-ene formulations had significantly lower viscosities, water sorption and solubility than the BisGMA/TEGDMA control. Depending on the resin, the limiting functional conversions were equivalent to or greater than that of BisGMA/TEGDMA. At comparable conversions, lower shrinkage stress values were achieved by the thiol-ene systems. The polymerization shrinkage stress was dramatically reduced when the tetra-allyl monomer was used as the ene in ester-free thiol-ene mixtures. Although exhibiting lower Young’s modulus, flexural strength, and glass transition temperatures, the toughness values associated with thiol-ene resins were greater than that of the BisGMA/TEGDMA control. In addition, the thiol-ene polymerization resulted in highly uniform polymer networks as indicated by the narrow tan delta peak widths. Significance Employing the developed thiol-ene resins in dental composites will reduce shrinkage stress and moisture absorption and form tougher materials. Furthermore, their low viscosities are expected to enable higher loadings of functionalized micro/nano-scale filler particles relevant for practical dental systems.

A scalable synthesis of high refractive index, optically transparent photopolymers from a family of low-viscosity multifunctional thiol and alkyne monomers via thiol−yne "click" is described herein. The monomers designed to incorporate high refractive index cores consisting of aryl and sulfide groups with high intrinsic molar refraction were synthesized starting from commercially available low-cost raw materials. The low-viscosity (<500 cP) thiol−yne resins formulated with these new multifunctional monomers and a phosphine oxide photoinitiator underwent efficient thiol−yne polymerizations upon exposure to 405 nm light at 30 mW/cm 2 . In contrast to the previously reported thiol−ene systems, the kinetic profile of these photopolymerizations showed significant dependence on the nature of the thiol and alkyne monomers. However, the ability of the thiol−yne reaction to introduce a large number of sulfide linkages compared to that of thiol− ene systems yielded cross-linked high optical quality photopolymers with a polymer refractive index that exceeds 1.68 (n D /20 °C). Interestingly, the photopolymer formed from the least sterically hindered alkynyl thioether monomer 2b with flexible thioether core and the dithiol 1a exhibited unprecedented difference in the polymer refractive index as compared to that of the resin with polymerization-induced changes reaching up to 0.08. Furthermore, the implementation of these low-viscosity thiol−yne resins was demonstrated by preparing two-stage photopolymeric holographic materials with a dynamic range of ∼0.02 and haze < 1.5% in twodimensional high refractive index structures.

Glutamine synthetase (GS) regulation in Escherichia coli by reversible covalent modification cycles is a prototype of signal transduction by enzyme cascades. Such enzyme cascades are known to exhibit ultrasensitive response to primary stimuli and act as signal integration systems. Here, we have quantified GS bicyclic cascade based on steady state analysis by evaluating Hill coefficient. We demonstrate that adenylylation of GS with glutamine as input is insensitive to total enzyme concentrations of GS, uridylyltransferase/uridylyl-removing enzyme, regulatory protein PII, and adenylyltransferase/adenylyl-removing enzyme. This robust response of GS adenylylation is also observed for change in system parameters. From numerical analyses, we show that the robust ultrasensitive response of bicyclic cascade is because of allosteric interactions of glutamine and 2-ketoglutarate, bifunctionality of converter enzymes, and closed loop bicyclic cascade structure. By system level quantification of the GS bicyclic cascade, we conclude that such a robust response may help the cell in adapting to different carbon and nitrogen status.