Synthesis of emulsion-templated macroporous materials via Diels-Alder polymerization

Abstract Emulsion-templated macroporous materials, known in the literature for many years as polyHIPEs, have found an increasing number of applications due to their well-defined structures. However, most of the emulsion-templated materials are synthesized using conventional radical polymerization, and most of the radical polymerization are thermally initiated. Expanding the polymerization mechanisms available for emulsion-templated material synthesis is still highly desired. In this work, macroporous polymers were firstly synthesized by Diels-Alder reaction of furan derivatives and bismaleimide within the continuous phase of particle-stabilized emulsions. These polymers have a well-defined controllable porous structure and good self-healing performance.