Integrating synthetic macromolecular chemistry into complex biological environments offers revolutionary opportunities to understand and modulate living systems. Among synthetic strategies, radical polymerization stands out as a premier methodology due to its exceptional adaptability to aqueous and physiological conditions, diverse initiation mechanisms (e.g., light, heat, electricity), and broad monomer tolerance. This Viewpoint provides a comprehensive overview of the emerging field of radical polymerization (RP) in living systems. We discuss the evolution of these strategies from simple cell fixation to sophisticated applications in regulating biological processes, highlighting the unique advantages of RP in bridging synthetic chemistry with biology. Finally, current challenges regarding biocompatibility and reaction control are addressed, alongside future perspectives for advancing this field toward in vivo tissue engineering and precise biomedical interventions.
Peng et al. (Fri,) studied this question.