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Novel water‐soluble methylated chitins (MCHs) were synthesized homogeneously in aqueous alkaline solution. The relatively mild reaction conditions resulted in the MCH with high degree of acetylation (DA >0.76). The chemical structure of the obtained MCHs was analyzed and the degree of methylation substitution (DS) and DA were determined by proton NMR in both D2O and 20% DCl/D2O. The MCH aqueous solutions (DS = 0.46 ~ 0.71) showed a reversible thermosensitive sol–gel–sol transition upon heating and cooling. The gel transition temperature of these MCHs (in the range of 15–85 °C) increased with increasing DS and decreasing polymer concentration. Thermal runaway has been an important safety issue impeding the development of high‐energy‐density zinc‐ion batteries. A smart thermosensitive reversible electrolyte was prepared based on this MCH for the aqueous zinc‐ion battery to prevent thermal runaway. When the temperature of zinc‐ion battery rises or even gets out of control, the thermosensitive electrolyte can quickly gel and inhibit the migration of zinc ions, resulting in increase of the internal resistance and realizing intelligent and efficient thermal self‐protection. Thus the novel thermosensitive methylated chitin shows promise for safe aqueous zinc‐ion batteries.

The hyperbranched copolymers were obtained by the atom transfer radical copolymerization of p-(chloromethyl)styrene (CMS) with N-cyclohexylmaleimide (NCMI) catalyzed by CuCl/2,2'-bipyridine (bpy) in cyclohexanone (C6H10O) or anisole (PhOCH3) with CMS as the inimer. The influences of several factors, such as temperature, solvent, the concentration of CuCl and bpy, and monomer ratio, on the copolymerization were subsequently investigated. The apparent enthalpy of activation for the overall copolymerization was measured to be 37.2 kJ/mol. The fractional orders obtained in the copolymerization were approximately 0.843 and 0.447 for [CuCl]0 and [bpy]0, respectively. The monomer reactivity ratios were evaluated to be rNCMI = 0.107 and rCMS = 0.136. The glass transition temperature of the resultant hyperbranched copolymer increases with increasing fNCMI, which indicates that the heat resistance of the copolymer has been improved by increasing NCMI. The prepared hyperbranched CMS/NCMI copolymers were used as macroinitiators for the solution polymerization of styrene to yield star-shaped poly(CMS-co-NCMI)/polystyrene block copolymers by atom transfer radical polymerization. © 2000 John Wiley & Sons, Inc. J Appl Polym Sci 78: 1992–1997, 2000

Atom transfer radical polymerization has been applied to simultaneously copolymerize methyl methacrylate (MMA) and N‐cyclohexylmaleimide (NCMI). Molecular weight behaviour and kinetic study on the copolymerization with the CuBr/bipyridine(bpy) catalyst system in anisole indicate that MMA/NCMI copolymerization behaves in a ‘living’ fashion. The influence of several factors, such as temperature, solvent, initiator and monomer ratio, on the copolymerization were investigated. Copolymerization of MMA and NCMI in the presence of CuBr/bpy using cyclohexanone as a solvent instead of anisole displayed poor control. The monomer reactivity ratios were evaluated as rNCMI = 0.26 and rMMA=1.35. The glass transition temperature of the resulting copolymer increases with increasing NCMI concentration. The thermal stability of plexiglass could be improved through copolymerization with NCMI.© 2000 Society of Chemical Industry