While we will herein focus on emerging and future material applications of synthetic sequence - defined macromolecules , we briefly highlight contemporary synthetic processes to sequencedefined polymers as they critically influence the building block variety and achievable chain length , which in turn dictate the resulting material properties and thus applications . The synthetic approaches toward sequence - defined macromolecules were recently summarized and can generally be divided into liquid - phase approaches , solid - phase approaches , and fluorous - phase or polymer - tethered methodologies , [ 2 ] with all their individual advantages and disadvantages . Linear synthetic approaches can install one monomer unit per iterative cycle ( Figure 2 ) , be it in a submonomer strategy or by installing the monomer completely , for instance , via single unit monomer insertion ( SUMI ) . By contrast , bidirectional growth ( Figure 2 ) commences from not only one reactive site but two , thus leading to higher degrees of polymerization more rapidly , and symmetric macromolecules . Of course , also multidirectional approaches , leading to star - shaped macromolecules , are possible . The strategy leading to the fast build - up of molecular weight is the so - called iterative exponential growth ( IEG , Figure 2 ) , often termed divergent / convergent approach , which , however , offers the least control over the obtained sequence ( i.e. , only one type of monomer is usually used ) . The latter two approaches are not well - suited for solid - phase or fluorous - phase synthesis and the linear approach offers the highest possible degree of definition . Thus , several prime examples following this linear Emerging applications of a new class of materials , sequence - defined macromolecules , are explored . Such molecularly highly defined macromolecules require stringent synthesis and purification procedures , yet offer unprecedented application possibilities . The first examples of molecular data storage and related technologies are already starting to emerge today . From a more fundamental point of view , such macromolecules offer a unique opportunity to determine quantitative structure - property relationships ( QSPR ) , which critically aids in designing materials with applications ranging from catalysis to artificial enzymes .