ArticleNature communications2020
Enhanced polymer mechanical degradation through mechanochemically unveiled lactonization.
Article in Nature communications, 2020. The graph could read no effect estimate from its abstract, so it casts no vote on the map. Cited by 21 papers.
What it found
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The trial behind it
Trials whose registry record cites this paper, or whose number appears in the abstract. A trial that started after this paper was published is citing it as background, not reporting it.
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Who cites it
21 citing papers in PubMed, 98 citations in OpenAlex.
- Precise Structural Design for Chemically Recyclable Polymers.Precision chemistry · 2026Review
- Review
- Cycloreversion-enhanced toughness and degradability in mechanophore-embedded end-linked polymer networks.Nature communications · 2026Article
- Life cycle design of polyhydroxyalkanoates (PHA).National science review · 2025Review
- Mechanochemistry: Fundamental Principles and Applications.Advanced science (Weinheim, Baden-Wurttemberg, Germany) · 2025Review
- Harnessing Non-Thermal External Stimuli for Polymer Recycling.Macromolecules · 2025Review
- Biodegradation of polyhydroxyalkanoates: current state and future prospects.Frontiers in microbiology · 2025Review
- Surface-Activated Mechano-Catalysis for Ambient Conversion of Plastic Waste.Journal of the American Chemical Society · 2024Article
- Facile Mechanophore Integration in Heterogeneous Biologically Derived Materials via "Dip-Conjugation".Journal of the American Chemical Society · 2024Article
- Mechanically triggered on-demand degradation of polymers synthesized by radical polymerizations.Nature chemistry · 2024Article
- Polycaprolactone-MXene coating for controlling initial biodegradation of magnesium implantRSC advances · 2024Article
- Mechanochemical Approaches to Fundamental Studies in Soft-Matter Physics.Angewandte Chemie (International ed. in English) · 2024Review
- Coumarin Dimer Is an Effective Photomechanochemical AND Gate for Small-Molecule Release.Journal of the American Chemical Society · 2023Article
- Effect of Polymer Composition and Morphology on Mechanochemical Activation in Nanostructured Triblock Copolymers.Macromolecules · 2023Article
- Article
- Mechanochemically accessing a challenging-to-synthesize depolymerizable polymer.Nature communications · 2023Article
- Force ahead: Emerging Applications and Opportunities of Polymer Mechanochemistry.ACS polymers Au · 2022Article
- Degradable polymers via olefin metathesis polymerization.Progress in polymer science · 2021Article
- The many flavours of mechanochemistry and its plausible conceptual underpinnings.Nature reviews. Chemistry · 2021Review
- Mechanochemical generation of acid-degradable poly(enol ether)s.Chemical science · 2021Article
Corrections and comments
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Authors and funding
4 authors at 1 institution in 1 country.
Funding
No grant is acknowledged in the PubMed record.
Abstract
The mechanical degradation of polymers is typically limited to a single chain scission per triggering chain stretching event, and the loss of stress transfer that results from the scission limits the extent of degradation that can be achieved. Here, we report that the mechanically triggered ring-opening of a [4.2.0]bicyclooctene (BCOE) mechanophore sets up a delayed, force-free cascade lactonization that results in chain scission. Delayed chain scission allows many eventual scission events to be initiated within a single polymer chain. Ultrasonication of a 120 kDa BCOE copolymer mechanically remodels the polymer backbone, and subsequent lactonization slowly (~days) degrades the molecular weight to 4.4 kDa, > 10× smaller than control polymers in which lactonization is blocked. The force-coupled kinetics of ring-opening are probed by single molecule force spectroscopy, and mechanical degradation in the bulk is demonstrated. Delayed scission offers a strategy to enhanced mechanical degradation and programmed obsolescence in structural polymeric materials.
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Registered trials
Read under generation 80e0d062 · epoch 390. Bibliography from PubMed, PubMed Central and OpenAlex; grants from NIH RePORTER; trial links from ClinicalTrials.gov; estimates, votes and beliefs from the OpenQuestion graph.