Controlled/Living Radical Polymerizations: Latest Trends in Synthesis, Characterization and Industrial Applications

17 - 18 September 2009, Houffalize, Belgium

Introduction

Preparative polymer chemistry has made dramatic advances over the last ten years: Because of the invention of controlled radical polymerization techniques, our ability to control and assemble macromolecular structures has reached a point where many previously very hard to access topologies can now be prepared with relative ease. Concomitantly, polymer science has made significant advances in characterizing the prepared structures through the use of advanced characterization techniques ranging from e.g. multi-detector size exclusion chromatography (SEC), coupled SEC soft ionization mass spectrometry as well as chromatography under critical conditions. These advances would not have been possible without the dedicated work of generations of doctoral students and post-doctoral researchers, who are the research backbone of our community