Issue 14, 2017

In situ synthesis of a self-assembled AB/B blend of poly(ethylene glycol)-b-polystyrene/polystyrene by dispersion RAFT polymerization

Abstract

A diblock-copolymer/homopolymer self-assembled blend of poly(ethylene glycol)-block-polystyrene/polystyrene (PEG-b-PS/PS) was synthesized through dispersion RAFT polymerization. In this dispersion RAFT polymerization reaction, a macro-RAFT agent and a small RAFT agent containing the same RAFT moiety were simultaneously used. By tuning the molar ratio of the macro-RAFT agent and the small RAFT agent fed into the dispersion RAFT polymerization mixture, PEG-b-PS/PS self-assembled blends with different morphologies could be prepared. It is found that the PEG-b-PS/PS self-assembled blend synthesized by dispersion RAFT polymerization is very different from the blend prepared via micellization of a pre-synthesized PEG-b-PS/PS mixture, and its morphology changes from vesicles, to compartmentalized vesicles and finally to porous nanospheres with a decreasing ratio of PEG-b-PS/PS in the blends. It is believed that the present dispersion RAFT polymerization technique, which simultaneously uses a macro-RAFT agent and a small RAFT agent, is a valid method to synthesize self-assembled block copolymer blends.

Graphical abstract: In situ synthesis of a self-assembled AB/B blend of poly(ethylene glycol)-b-polystyrene/polystyrene by dispersion RAFT polymerization

Supplementary files

Article information

Article type
Paper
Submitted
28 Feb 2017
Accepted
10 Mar 2017
First published
13 Mar 2017

Polym. Chem., 2017,8, 2173-2181

In situ synthesis of a self-assembled AB/B blend of poly(ethylene glycol)-b-polystyrene/polystyrene by dispersion RAFT polymerization

B. Yuan, X. He, Y. Qu, C. Gao, E. Eiser and W. Zhang, Polym. Chem., 2017, 8, 2173 DOI: 10.1039/C7PY00339K

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