Facile Synthesis of Clickable, Water-Soluble, and Degradable Polyphosphoesters

Click chemistry is a library of efficient and reliable reactions, which have been used to functionalize various classes of bio- and synthetic macromolecular systems for the incorporation of designed properties and functions. In this report, azide-alkyne Huisgen cycloaddition and thiol-yne reactions, two classical click chemistries, were employed to functionalize biodegradable, clickable polyphosphoester homopolymers, and their water-soluble copolymers. A stable alkyne-functionalized phospholane monomer was synthesized, its organocatalyzed polymerization kinetics were evaluated, and the resulting (co)polymers were utilized to develop this facile method that provides the synthesis of clickable, water-soluble, and degradable polyphosphoesters, which can be adapted for various applications.