Clickable waterborne polymers and click-crosslinked waterborne polymers, clickable functional compounds, click functionalized waterborne polymers, and uses thereof

Abstract

Clickable waterborne polymers, click crosslinking of waterborne polymers, click crosslinked waterborne polymers, clickable functional compounds, and click functionalized waterborne polymers are presented. For example, the waterborne polymers have pendant groups bearing alkyne and/or azide groups and alkyne. For example, the functionalized azide-containing functional compounds such as antimicrobial or infrared-refractive compounds. The click crosslinking of clickable waterborne polymers or polymer mixtures, and the click conjugation of clickable waterborne polymers with clickable functional compounds such as clickable antimicrobial or infrared-refractive compounds, which resulted in functional waterborne polymers with antimicrobial or infrared-refractive functions, are presented. The presented polymers, including clickable waterborne polymers, click-crosslinked waterborne polymers, and functional waterborne polymers with, for example, antimicrobial or infrared-refractive functions, can be used in applications such as coating and adhesive compositions. The aqueous suspensions of waterborne polymers can also be used directly as drug delivery systems, or can be crosslinked into hydrogels or composites for biomedical applications such as drug/cell delivery, tissue engineering, and other medical device.