Quantitative Studies of Polymer Mechanochemistry

In recent years, covalent polymer mechanochemistry has undergone something of a renaissance in which it has been extensively explored for a variety of purposes including (but not limited to) biasing reaction pathways, trapping transition states and intermediates, catalysis, release of small molecules and protons, stress reporting and stress strengthening materials, and soft devices. The extent to which such responses might be useful in bulk materials involves physics on two different length scales: the coupling of force to chemical reactions within an individual polymer strand, and the number of polymer strands within a network that experience various magnitudes of force. This talk will describe quantitative studies on both of these length scales, including the ability of studies on one to inform the other.