Figure 4: Schematic representation and degradation of the disulphide polymer.
(a) Schematic representation of the degradation that would occur from the disulphide polymer to linear primary chains by disulphide bond cleavage using reduction of tributylphosphine (Bu3P). Mw and hydrodynamic size of polymer chains will decrease significantly in branched polymers. (b) The SEC trace before and after cleavage of the HB polybis(2-acryloyl)oxyethyl disulphide (polyDSDA) synthesized by vinyl oligomer combination strategy (purified 10 h product in Table 2 and Supplementary Fig. S6. After purification, the Mw increased from 21.5 to 30.9 kDa because the precipitation process removed parts of the molecules with low molar mass). The HB structure was proved by the substantial decrease in molecular weight and hydrodynamic size after cleavage.
