Some of the main applications for synthetic polymers are found within the medical field (drug delivery, diagnostics, medical imaging). However, preparation of these macromolecules has been limited to those with access to chemistry facilities, potentially delaying biological evaluation. In this work, we aim to address this issue by utilising equipment typically found within a biological lab to establish a protocol for the preparation of well-defined macromolecules via RAFT polymerisation. By exploiting thermocycler technology, libraries of homopolymers, block- and statistical-copolymers were prepared in under 5 minutes per heating cycle using acrylamide monomers with ultrafast RAFT polymerisation. All the polymers prepared had excellent molar mass control and could be generated in under 15 min.

中文翻译：

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PCR-RAFT：在生物实验室中快速，高通量的耐氧RAFT聚合物合成

在医学领域（药物输送，诊断，医学成像）中发现了合成聚合物的一些主要应用。但是，这些大分子的制备仅限于可使用化学设施的分子，这可能会延迟生物学评估。在这项工作中，我们旨在通过利用通常在生物实验室中发现的设备来建立通过RAFT聚合制备明确定义的大分子的方案来解决此问题。通过利用热循环仪技术，使用丙烯酰胺单体进行超快RAFT聚合，在每个加热周期不到5分钟的时间内即可制备均聚物，嵌段共聚物和统计共聚物。所制备的所有聚合物均具有优异的摩尔质量控制，并且可以在15分钟内生成。