Interest and research activity in the photoinitiated cationic crosslinking polymerizations of multifunctional epoxide and oxetanes monomers have increased rapidly as this technology has found broad use in many industrial applications. However, while the synthesis of current epoxy-functional siloxanes yields monomers that undergo efficient cationic ring-opening photopolymerization to give crosslinked materials with excellent thermal and chemical resistance, they produce hard, brittle, glass-like materials with little elongation and flexibility.

Living polymerization is a method by which polymers having a narrow molecular weight distribution may be obtained. Block copolymers may also be synthesized using the method. Block copolymers may display improved mechanical andor chemical properties over corresponding random copolymers. One promising method for free radical polymerization with living characteristics is reversible addition-fragmentation chain transfer (RAFT) polymerization.

Displacement chromatography has attracted signifcant attention as a powerful technique for the purification of bioherapeutic proteins and oligunucleotides. Displacement chromatography enables simultaneous concentration and purification in a single step, which is significant in the purifcation of biopharmaceuticals. However, the major obstacle in implementing this technique is the lack of a sufficient diversity of appropriate displace candidates that are applicable across a wide spectrum of bioseparation demands.