Preface

The ‘click’ reactions are a unique class of synthetic tools that are being extensively used in organic chemistry as well as in polymer chemistry to prepare varieties of new materials. Since the inception of the ‘click chemistry’ concept by Barry Sharpless in the early 2000s, it has been a highly versatile, orthogonal, and modular synthetic tool that has been overwhelmingly recognized by chemists and materials scientists. This book is envisioned to provide a detailed synopsis on ‘click’ chemistry in polymer science for students and researchers who are new to this field or are already familiar with the important role of ‘click’ chemistry in impacting the enriched diversity of polymer science. During the last few decades, it has matured from a scientific research topic to a widely accepted polymer science toolbox. We feel this comprehensive resource will become a regular thesaurus for researchers in academia as well as industry working in the miscellaneous areas of chemistry going beyond polymer science, which will be the core content of this book.

This book contains 18 chapters that are intended to share an overview of the current status of click chemistry in polymer science by highlighting its history as well as the most recent, significant, and outstanding achievements. The beginning portion will focus on the origin of the click chemistry concept, its merging with polymer science, and its significance in generating a diverse range of polymer materials using copper-mediated (CuAAC) and strain-promoted azide–alkyne cycloaddition (SPAAC) or Diels–Alder cycloaddition reactions. This is followed by a few important chapters discussing the foundation of metal-free, photo-mediated, and reversible-click approaches with major benefits in medical applications and environmental sustainability. Separate chapters are also included describing the contribution of click chemistry in several important classes of polymers, such as fluoropolymers, polyurethanes, and various industrial polymer materials.

The foundation of the click chemistry concept has been a game-changing accomplishment in chemical research and development, acknowledged by the 2022 Nobel prize, which stands for a synthetic philosophy encompassing a series of highly efficient coupling reactions. Since its origin, click chemistry has been proven to be a customary, powerful, and orthogonal tool for the synthesis of many easy-to-complex (bio)polymeric materials. Over the last two decades, the use of click approaches has especially flourished in polymer science, as it enables efficient polymer functionalization and coupling reactions. Hence, click chemistry unarguably impacted the polymer community by providing easy access to functional polymer materials, which are also starting to make an impact in real-world applications. Reading the content of this book should lead to an appreciation of the immense and creative contribution of click chemistry to polymer science. Furthermore, it will inspire the future use of click chemistry and the development of new click chemistry approaches that will fuel the next generation of scientists to advance future research on polymeric materials.

The editors are grateful to the distinguished authors for their trust and patience and for timely submitting their chapters despite the challenging situations during the post COVID-19 pandemic period. The editors also acknowledge the Royal Society of Chemistry Editorial department for their continuous support while compiling this book. We now leave this book to the distinguished readers who are the ultimate evaluators!

Richard Hoogenboom, Prantik Mondal, and Nikhil K. Singha