A comprehensive platform for the design and synthesis of polymer molecular weight distributions

The molecular weight distribution (MWD) has a significant impact on the properties of polymeric materials; however, the characterization of polymer MWDs has been limited to statistical parameters such as the number average molecular weight (M_n) and dispersity (Đ). These parameters do not fully express the features of polymer MWDs, thus limiting the ability to rationally design complex polymeric materials with tailored MWDs. Herein, a platform for the design and synthesis of arbitrary polymer MWDs is developed and experimentally validated. The platform is based on the description of polymer MWDs as a mathematical function, rather than individual statistical parameters. As such, the complete shape of arbitrary polymer MWDs can be designed using developed software. The software requires only a calibration using model monomodal MWDs directly obtained from GPC to design theoretical MWD. Using this platform in conjunction with a flow-mediated polymerization approach, a range of arbitrarily shaped polymer MWDs were successfully designed and prepared. Finally, complex triblock copolymer mixtures with tailored compositions and overall MWD were fabricated via one-pass flow-mediated polymerization using this computer-guided approach.