New directions in single polymer dynamics

Single polymer techniques are a powerful set of molecular-level tools that enable the direct observation of polymer chain dynamics under highly non-equilibrium conditions. In this way, single polymer methods have been used to uncover fundamentally new information regarding the static and dynamic properties of polymeric materials. However, to achieve the full potential of these new methods, single polymer techniques must be further advanced to enable the study of polymers with complex architectures, heterogeneous chemistries, flexible backbones, and intermolecular interactions in entangled solutions, which reaches far beyond the current state-of-the-art. In this article, we explore recent developments in the area of single polymer physics, including single molecule force spectroscopy and fluorescence microscopy, and we further highlight exciting new directions in the field. © 2013 Wiley Periodicals, Inc. J. Polym. Sci., Part B: Polym. Phys. 2013