The Editor-in-Chief wishes the readers a very happy, enjoyable, and successful new year and announces the imminent appointment of two new Associate Editors.

An Australian Polymer Delegation visited China in January 2013 and the 1st China–Australia Polymer Meeting (CAPM) was held in Shanghai. This special issue highlights current work in polymer research presented by scientific delegates from both Australia and China.

Chemical modification has been demonstrated as an effective way to improve the mechanical strength and modulus, material flexibility, barrier properties, and thermal processability, and to introduce new functionalities in processing wheat gluten-based renewable and biodegradable polymer materials. This paper highlights new developments in the field during the last 10-12 years.

This paper reviews both single (once only) and repeated interfacial polymer complexation formed by hydrogen bonding, the available hydrogen bonding pairs for complexation, the thermodynamics and kinetics of complexation, and construction schemes.

A novel nonmigrating aromatic hyperbranched polyester was synthesised, and it shows excellent plasticisation efficiency of PVC when compared with the benchmark plasticiser.

Dendrimer-like star-branched block copolymers with controlled segment sequence and their star-like dendrigraft derivatives were synthesised through anionic polymerisation and coupling reactions.

Poly(p-phenylene terephthalamide) (PPTA) containing alternately scattered TEMPO-containing co-units shows better thermal stability and more ordered intermolecular packing than that with randomly incorporated co-units. The former generates a nematic phase at a concentration of 18 wt-% in concentrated sulfuric acid, the latter at a concentration of 12 wt-%. Both of them can induce nitroxide-mediated radical polymerization of styrene to obtain graft copolymers with PPTA as main chains and polystyrene as side chains.

Amphiphilic multi-star architectures consisting of discrete poly(methacrylic acid)-based core cross-linked star polymers joined together by polystyrene-grafted linear connectors are synthesised and can self-assemble into large nanometre-scale vesicles.

Peptide organogels assembled from a non-ionic alkyl-polypeptide are prepared using ring-opening polymerization of an α-amino acid N-carboxyanhydride. Poly-l-EG₁Glu segments form a predominantly β-sheet conformation and the copolymers form nanoribbon structures in THF. The morphology of the nanoribbons was closely associated with the chain length of the alkyl-poly-l-EG₁Glu.

Aqueous dispersions of carbon nanotubes with poly(styrene sulfonate) were investigated over a range of pH and ionic strengths as a means of determining the potential for further application of the polymer as a protective agent for the tubes. The poly(styrene sulfonate) was found to be an effective dispersal agent, capable of reducing the size of the nanotube agglomerates within an aqueous solution and dispersing the tubes in a single-step process. The association of PSS with the tubes was found to remain with change in pH and ionic strength, while the dispersions became unstable and collapsed.

Reduced graphene oxide and ZnO nanoparticles were coated on the surface of a non-woven polyester textile substrate using a layer-by-layer assembly technique. The membrane showed efficient water/oil separation. The membrane also showed excellent adsorption efficiency and cycling performance for dye removal from water.

Radio-opaque micelle were created that are suitable for X-ray imaging by the self-assembly of iodinated block copolymers. The micelle size was adjusted by the block lengths, which in turn could be altered by the reaction time of the RAFT polymerization.

The structure and dynamics of RAFT-click poly(N-isopropylacrylamide) networks were studied using fluorescently labelled dextran probe molecules.

In-situ alloying dynamics and phase morphology evolutions of polypropylene (PP)/polystyrene (PS) binary polymer blends using anhydrous aluminum chloride as a catalyst were investigated by small angle light scattering.

A novel kind of amphiphilic hyperbranched polymer (AHP), poly(2-(dimethylamino)ethyl methacrylate)-co-polystyrene (HPTAM-co-PS), was synthesized via the combination of reversible addition–fragmentation chain-transfer polymerization and self-condensing vinyl polymerization (RAFT-SCVP). Our work opens an avenue for the design of efficient dye-colouring additives and for the application of hyperbranched polymers in the field of polymer colouring.

This paper describes the preparation process of magnetic hydrogels. Pomegranate-like functional magnetic nanospheres (FMNs) were prepared by embedding Fe₃O₄ nanoparticles into polystyrene through miniemulsion polymerization. Magnetic hydrogels were fabricated using FMNs as photoactive crosslinkers and polyacrylamide as polymer matrix by photoinitiated free radical polymerization.

A simple and cost-effective strategy to create a strong interfacial interaction of coordination bonds in graphene oxide/poly(ethylene oxide) nanocomposites is described. The strong interfacial interaction realizes efficient load transfer during the tensile process to significantly improve the mechanical properties.

Complex micelles with glucose-responsive shells were prepared by self-assembly of two diblock copolymers in aqueous solution. Glibenclamide was hydrophobically loaded in the micelles. Self-regulated release of glibenclamide from the complex micelles was achieved by reversible change of the polymer chains in response to a change in glucose concentration.

Smaller polystyrene/P(NIPAM-co-AA) core–shell nanoparticles were adhered to the surface of amino-modified Fe₃O₄@SiO₂ microspheres by electrostatic interactions, and an amidation reaction between the carboxylic and amino groups on the respective surfaces was then catalyzed to obtained novel architecture magnetic microspheres with multiresponsive functionalities.

Water-soluble antibacterial agent poly(hexamethylene guanidine hydrochloride) (PHMG) oligomers are converted via facile template polymerization into water-dispersible antibacterial nanoparticles, thus making them suitable for the preparation of coatings and textiles with long-term antibacterial activity.

A novel approach for coating multiwalled carbon nanotubes (MWCNTs) via electrostatic interactions with RAFT diblock copolymers was developed, enabling considerable improvement in the dispersibility of the MWCNTs in phosphate buffered saline solution.

A continuous bone morphogenic protein-2 gradient distribution in a poly(l-lactide-co-glycolide) fibre–microsphere membrane was developed by a combined technique of electrospinning and electrospraying.

π-Conjugated dye molecule were used as an optical probe to reveal the interactions between chemically converted graphene and non-conjugated, water soluble polymers in aqueous solution. This finding provides a simple, non-covalent approach to functionalisation of graphene and fabrication of graphene/polymer nanocomposites.

The highly efficient one-pot synthesis of water-soluble poly(2-hydroxyethyl acrylate) (PHEA)-based core cross-linked star (CCS) polymers via single electron transfer-living radical polymerisation is described. The functionalised CCS polymers form photoreversible supramolecular complexes with cyclodextrins through host–guest interactions, whereby dissociation of the complexes could be externally controlled upon application of ultraviolet irradiation.