The accumulation of plastic waste, due to lack of recycling, has led to serious environmental
pollution. Although mechanical recycling can alleviate this issue, it inevitably reduces the …

Mechanochemistry provides a unique approach to investigate macroscopic deformation,
failure and healing of polymer materials. The development of mechanophores–molecular …

The mechanical properties of covalent polymer networks often arise from the permanent end-
linking or cross-linking of polymer strands, and molecular linkers that break more easily …

Over the past 20 years, the field of polymer mechanochemistry has amassed a toolbox of
mechanophores that translate mechanical energy into a variety of functional responses …

The utility and lifetime of materials made from polymer networks, including hydrogels,
depend on their capacity to stretch and resist tearing. In gels and elastomers, those …

Mechanochemistry describes diverse phenomena in which mechanical load affects
chemical reactivity. The fuzziness of this definition means that it includes processes as …

The use of mechanical forces to chemically transform polymers dates back decades. In
recent years, the use of mechanochemistry to direct constructive transformations in polymers …

Molecular knots and entanglements form randomly and spontaneously in both biological
and synthetic polymer chains. It is known that macroscopic materials, such as ropes, are …

Swelling in polymer materials is a ubiquitous phenomenon. At a molecular level, swelling is
dictated by solvent–polymer interactions, and has been thoroughly studied both theoretically …

The development of force-responsive molecules called mechanophores is a central
component of the field of polymer mechanochemistry. Mechanophores enable the design …