Topological Polymers for Advanced Materials

Dear Colleagues,

Properties of polymer materials are generally dependent on the molecular structures, chain topologies, and morphologies. In addition to their molecular structures, polymer topologies have been found to play pivotal role in mediating the chain packing fashions and interchain interactions, affording the polymers different properties than their conventional linear polymer counterparts. Over the last decades, topological polymers have demonstrated intriguing properties and have been found to be promising applications in various fields ranging from biomaterials, optical materials, and hydrogels to molecular motors and soft actuators. Typical topological polymers include dendritic macromolecules (dendrimers, dendronized polymers, and hyperbranched polymers), comb-like polymers (molecular brushes and/or polymer brushes), star or branched polymers, cyclic polymers, polyrotaxanes, as well as two dimensional (2D) polymers. Although topological polymers have received tremendous attention, challenges still remain, especially in their efficient synthesis and creating the relationship between their topological structures and properties, allowing great potential for the topological polymers in developing novel properties and their potential application in materials science and technology.

This Special Issue on “Topological Polymers for Advanced Materials” is aimed at research enhancement and visibility with a focused audience, and invites the submission of original research, short communications, and review articles focusing on the synthesis, characterization, property investigations, and applications of topological polymers.

The scope of this Special Issue includes the following:

• Designing new topological polymers and their synthetic methodologies.
• Understanding relationships between the topological structure, property, and function of topological polymers, and their underlying mechanisms.
• Material applications of topological polymers.

Prof. Dr. Afang Zhang
Prof. Dr. Wen Li
Dr. Jiatao Yan
Guest Editors

Manuscript Submission Information

Manuscripts should be submitted online at www.mdpi.com by registering and logging in to this website. Once you are registered, click here to go to the submission form. Manuscripts can be submitted until the deadline. All submissions that pass pre-check are peer-reviewed. Accepted papers will be published continuously in the journal (as soon as accepted) and will be listed together on the special issue website. Research articles, review articles as well as short communications are invited. For planned papers, a title and short abstract (about 250 words) can be sent to the Editorial Office for assessment.

Submitted manuscripts should not have been published previously, nor be under consideration for publication elsewhere (except conference proceedings papers). All manuscripts are thoroughly refereed through a single-blind peer-review process. A guide for authors and other relevant information for submission of manuscripts is available on the Instructions for Authors page. Molecules is an international peer-reviewed open access semimonthly journal published by MDPI.

Please visit the Instructions for Authors page before submitting a manuscript. The Article Processing Charge (APC) for publication in this open access journal is 2700 CHF (Swiss Francs). Submitted papers should be well formatted and use good English. Authors may use MDPI's English editing service prior to publication or during author revisions.