ArticleNature chemistry2026
Tetrafunctional cyclobutanes tune toughness via network strand continuity.
Article in Nature chemistry, 2026. The graph could read no effect estimate from its abstract, so it casts no vote on the map. Cited by 6 papers.
What it found
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The trial behind it
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Who cites it
6 citing papers in PubMed.
- Force Reveals Hidden Conformations and Dissociation Pathways in Individual π-Interacting Dimers.Angewandte Chemie (International ed. in English) · 2026Article
- Toughening elastomer via sequentially activated multi-pathway energy dissipation.Nature communications · 2026Article
- Article
- Role of Molecular Topology Elucidated in Unified Gels.Journal of the American Chemical Society · 2026Article
- How Strand Continuity Governs the Toughness of Polymer Networks via Mechanophores.Polymer science & technology (Washington, D.C.) · 2026Article
- Cycloreversion-enhanced toughness and degradability in mechanophore-embedded end-linked polymer networks.Nature communications · 2026Article
Corrections and comments
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Authors and funding
11 authors.
Funding
No grant is acknowledged in the PubMed record.
Abstract
Customizing the toughness of polymer networks independently of their chemical composition and topology remains an unsolved challenge. Traditionally, polymer network toughening is achieved by using specialized monomers or solvents or adding secondary networks/fillers that substantially alter the composition and may limit applications. Here we report a class of force-responsive molecules-tetrafunctional cyclobutanes (TCBs)-that enable the synthesis of single-network end-linked gels with substantially decreased or increased toughness, including unusually high toughness for dilute end-linked gels, with no other changes to network composition. This behaviour arises from stress-selective force-coupled TCB reactivity when stress is imparted from multiple directions simultaneously, which traditional bifunctional mechanophores cannot access. This molecular-scale mechanoreactivity translates to bulk toughness through a topological descriptor, network strand continuity, that describes the effect of TCB reactivity on the consequent local network topology. TCB mechanophores and the corresponding concepts of stress-selective force-coupled reactivity and strand continuity offer design principles for tuning the toughness of simple yet commonly used single-network gels.
Identifiers
41238917What OpenQuestion holds
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.